This Is Me : Kate's Story
by ValkyrieLaufeyson
Summary: (au,oc x pairing, notes inside, read them) Kate Levesque is just trying to find out who she really is in life after the end of a 5 year marriage. She goes on the road with her family, and she finds herself faced with quite a few interesting situations. Through them all, she not only finds herself, but maybe she finds romance as well. But will it be with ex boyfriend Randy? Or not?
1. Notes & Stuff

First of all, I admit that I do not own any of the Superstars or Divas mentioned within this story. It's not meant to be real or reflect on anyone in any certain way.

Given that I do not personally know any of the people in the s tory but my original character, most of the superstars/divas within will be presented as they are DURING THE SHOWS. I'm not implying this is real and that's how they really are, however so nobody get bent out of shape, please? If I write them as being offscreen, I'll keep them as they are onscreen, however I will make a few changes to allow for them not being on camera, if this will offend anyone, you shouldn't keep reading.

I normally don't write things like this, but seeing Stephanie and Triple H together on some old youtube footage made me smile, their love inspired me to write them in as a pairing, write Triple H as being the father to my original character. Anything real I may use will be taken from various interviews the pair have done. The rest is simply how i imagine them being offscreen.

With all that out of the way, this is the lowdown on my original person, Kate Levesque:

- She came to Triple H at the age of 3, during the DX era, before he met and married Stephanie McMahon. He was already raising her, on the road, when the pair met and married. Stephanie eventually adopted Kate when Kate's biological mother Deanna (another fictional person, just so you all know) signed away her parental rights for some unknown reason. Her mother wasn't a good one, Stephanie is the woman Kate calls Mom.

- She was always a fan of wrestling. She wanted to be a wrestler at the age of 5, but as most kids do, she grew out of that phase. She still watches the show, keeps up with the kayfabe and whatnot.

- She's been in a bad marriage, the guy was controlling and nasty towards her, he basically broke her spirit. Now that she's out, she's really, really insecure and she's trying to find her way back to her true self. During the course of the story, more on her personality will come out. I will say now that she's NOT normally as insecure as she reads to be in the following chapter. She's just had a lot of really, really bad and destroying things happen to her.

- She actually dated Randy Orton when she was 19. He broke her heart and broke up with her. He's the main reason that she says she'll never date another professional wrestler, because she thinks they're all the way he was to her then.

Now here's what I need from you guys: I had an idea in mind for this, that she winds up with a wrestler, but I'm just not sure which one I want her to be with. I have a few definite choices in mind, I'll list them below:

- Dean Ambrose (because apparently, ladies love the guy. I personally just think he's a badass mofo,)

-Randy Orton (because I thought that given their history, it'd be interesting to see them wind up together, sort of having it hit him that he made a huge mistake when he ditched her, but then that's sooooo cliche. But he's hot!)

- Sheamus (because seriously, ladies, that accent. And he seems like such a sweetheart to boot. And he gets hardly any love on the archives)

- Zack Ryder ( because he's adorbs, okay? Damn. And he seems like a sweetie too. And he like never ever gets love stories.)

-Roman Reigns( enough said. I love this guy, okay?)

-Drew McIntyre (he's awesome and there are no stories for him where he's not a good guy! Shame!)

-Jack Swagger (Same as above, there are maybe 2 stories where he's a good guy and he's so cute!)

-Wade Barrett (because damn it, again, he's another guy who's always the bad guy.)

**Of the above guys, I'd prefer someone less used. There are an assload of Shield fanfictions on the site, and probably even more Randy Orton ones. Not saying I wouldn't write it with one of the shield guys or Randy, but I'm kinda doing this for a lesser used one of my favorites.**


	2. A Challenge From Dad Pt I

"You sure you're alright, Kate?" her father asked her for what had to be the millionth time since he'd picked her up at the airport in Fort Lauderdale. She sighed and said quietly, "I'm good." as she stared out the window at passing traffic.

Her stepmother, Stephanie spoke up and asked "You normally go back to your apartment when you're done on the road.. Any reason you didn't this time?" in curiousity. From the way Kate stiffened and bit her lower lip, Paul knew then that his oldest daughter was anything but fine.

"I just didn't, okay?" Kate muttered as she added immediately, "Sorry, I'm just tired and cranky." before falling silent again, biting her lip as she squeezed her eyes shut and willed the tears back. She didn't want to explain to her father and her stepmother, Stephanie just why she wasn't ever going back to her apartment, just why she was filing for divorce after only 5 years, what she'd went through silently, too ashamed to speak up and too proud to ask for help.

In the end, she hadn't needed help to get out. All she'd needed was to get good and pissed off at her soon to be ex husband. All she'd needed was 5 years of pent up anger, all the lies he'd told her, all the things she'd given up or compromised about herself to be the woman he 'wanted' her to be.

And when she'd finally gotten sick of it, he'd known it. She'd finally gotten good and pissed and they'd had their one and only fight.

And she had no intentions of ever going back to him, to that apartment again.

She was her own person again, finally.

The silence in the car got to be too much for Paul, so he fumbled with the radio controls as he tried to figure out what was going on in the mind of his oldest daughter. She hadn't said anything beyond asking him and Steph to come to the airport and pick her up. She'd given no indication that anything was wrong, but as her father, as the sole parent that'd raised her for at least a good 90 percent of her life (until he'd married Steph, then Steph became the mother that Kate hadn't had as a child), he didn't have to ask, he knew.

Something happened and until she was good and ready, she wasn't going to talk about it to anyone. He could tell she'd been upset for a while now, that whatever had been happening might have been going on for at least 3 of the 5 years she'd been married, that whatever it was, it was changing her and he hadn't liked it.

She always seemed so angry, she hardly smiled or laughed when he and Stephanie got to see her, when she'd visit their house on holidays. And a lot of those holidays, she came alone, he'd noticed. Then again the punk she'd married knew from the jump off that Paul Levesque didn't like him and didn't think him good enough for his oldest daughter, and he'd probably realized that wasn't going to change with time either.

To say Paul hadn't liked the guy would've been an understatement. No, he flat out hated the guy. Hate really didn't cover it if he had to be honest. But he knew that if he hadn't let Kate go off and marry the guy, she'd have just snuck off and done it anyway.

"Did he do something to you?" Paul asked as Kate looked at her father and bit her lip then said "You don't want the answer to that, Daddy. Just get me to the hotel. I'd really rather not discuss this right now, please?" with a pleading look in her normally vibrant but now dull brown eyes.

She looked as if whatever she'd been going through had beaten her down badly. Like she'd lost all her fire and her fight in the process. It killed him, as her father, but until she was ready to talk, he couldn't do anything.

And she was her father's daughter, she didn't handle emotions or failure very well, so he suspected that it'd be a while before she even tried discussing what she'd went through in the 5 years she'd been married to that jerk.

"So, are you just coming on the road with us for a little while or are you coming home?" Stephanie asked pointedly, hoping to herself that this decision was permanent, that she was finally done with the guy she'd married against their better judgement.

"We'll see." Kate answered vaguely as she stared out the window and into traffic, mostly keeping quiet. She didn't want to talk about any of this but it was clear that if she wanted to just wallow in the failure of a marriage in silence, neither her father nor her stepmother was content to just sit by and let that happen.

Talking about it hurt her and made her angry all over again. She just couldn't right now, not with everything still so raw and so fresh. Not when she didn't even know yet what she intended to do hated it, not knowing, feeling powerless and without a purpose. She hated the way she'd just let her soon to be ex husband control her, mold her into some version of the 'perfect' woman. She wasn't that kind of girl normally.

But she'd loved him so much that she hadn't realized what he was doing until he'd already done it.

Paul pulled into the arena parking lot and looked at Kate for a few moments then said "No matter what, pixie.. I'm glad you called us. And that you're here. We've missed you." with her stepmother Stephanie nodding in agreement and smiling, adding quietly, "And no matter what's happened, you can talk to us about it. It helps to talk about things."

Kate nodded and then said quietly, "I'll be in in a few minutes." as her father and her stepmother got out of the car, walking into the arena's backstage area. Once they were inside she dug around in the pocket of her leather jacket and pulled out her cigarettes and a lighter, got out of the car and walked to the curb, sitting down, lighting the cigarette, exhaling deeply.

"You did the right thing, Kate. The guy was going to keep insisting you compromise, that you change little things until one day, you'd have looked in the mirror and you wouldn't even have been you anymore. You'd have been the perfect trophy wife, but what good would that have done, huh? He'd still have cut you down, made you feel worthless, screwed around every single time you left town to work. He'd still have kept insisting you weren't good enough.. Just like she did." she muttered to herself as she rested her head against the flattened palm of her hand, holding the tears back for just a little while longer.

For now, in front of her father and her stepmother, in front of everyone backstage, she'd have to pretend she was happy, pretend she was okay. She didn't want anything being leaked to the dirt sheets and making her father or her stepmother, their company look bad.

She didn't want to be a burden either. She'd worked her ass off since coming to live with her father at the age of 3 to not ever be a burden to the man.

In the green room, Paul paced the area that served as his 'office' on camera, with the door shut as he tried to figure out what might have caused Kate to come to them as opposed to going back to her apartment, her husband.

"If he hit her.." Paul said aloud, punching a wall as Stephanie shook her head and said "She's every bit her father's daughter, Paul. If she'd been physically abused, I think she'd have already beaten the crap out of him and left. But there's more than just someone hitting you."

He nodded and said quietly, "How do we make her talk about anything though? She's never been a talker, she's always been more of a do it yourself girl.." as Stephanie sighed and said quietly, "We give it time. Eventually, she won't be able to take it anymore and she'll talk to someone. That's what happened last time, when she came back from living with her mom, remember?"

"I wish I could forget." he said as he stretched and said "So we just let her be?"

"For now. I think she realized finally that the way he was treating her wasn't love, it was a form of control. I mean didn't he seem like that kind of guy to you?" Stephanie asked as Paul nodded and said "He did. And I wish to hell now that I hadn't fought her so hard on the guy. If I'd just let her see the bastard, she never would have ran off and married the guy."

"She had to make that mistake on her own, Paul.. I'm going to tell you this again. You can't protect the girls from everything. I know you want to and that's why I love you so much.. But you can't protect them from every single bad thing in life or they'll never learn the difference between something good and something bad. They'll think everything's bad. It's not healthy."

"I know, damn it. Doesn't mean I can't try." he said as the door was knocked on, Kate shuffled in and sat down in her father's desk chair, propped her legs up and put her arms behind her head, her eyes shut as she finally said aloud, "I don't know what I'm gonna do next but I do know, Dad, that I'm not going back to Adam. Maybe I'll take up dancing or something, I don't know. I just... I think I need some time to clear my head, ya know?"

"Yeah, I know." Paul said as he asked again, "Did he hurt you?"

"I'm gonna tell you the same thing I did earlier, Dad.. You don't want me to answer that. Besides, it's my own fault. Feel free to tell me 'I Told You So' at any time." Kate said solemnly as Paul shook his head and said quietly, "The important thing for me is you're outta there and you're okay. You are okay, right?"

"I'm a little better now." Kate said bravely, mostly to reassure him.

She looked at a flier on his desk and held it up, nose wrinkled in disgust as she said "Seriously, Dad.. You're not gonna find any Divas worth a damn with another Diva search.. You do know this, right? All you're gonna get at the auditions are girls like me who model and dance or do gymnastics and haven't ever stepped foot in a ring.. They're in love with the fame, with the idea of finding a guy on the roster.. Hellooooo.. Remember Eve? Or any of the other winners you've all picked in the past?"

"If you're so against the idea of a Diva Search, Kate, why don't you sign up and show me why it won't work?" Paul joked as Kate looked at him and laughed a little then shook her head. "I only kickbox old man. I'd never be worth a shit in that ring and besides.. Remember that one really, really shitty movie role? Yeah.. I can't act either."

"You can do anything if you try." Stephanie said as she looked at Kate, held her eyes in a challenging gaze.

"Yeah? Well I did try, Mom.. Look where it got me.. Right back here with a failed marriage at 25." Kate quipped as she sighed and said quietly, "Forget it.. I didn't mean anything, I was just pointing out the obvious flaws in the Diva Search concept as a whole."

"And I still think that if you really want to prove that the whole thing is flawed, Kate, you should sign on and show me where the flaws are. You used to love this.. Watching the show, being backstage, kiddo.. It was your life. Remember how you pitched a fit when Steph and I made you go home again for school in the fall? You said there was magic here.. From where I'm standin, kiddo, you look like you need some of that magic again."

"In other words, grandpa wants to include me in the scripts somehow.. Dad, I hardly see how that's fair. I have no training and I have no interest in the storylines. I can't act and I don't want to be hated back here because grandpa wants to trot me out on tv." Kate said quietly as she picked at her nails. Paul nodded and laughing said "He does, but I was thinking more along those lines for sentimental reasons.. When you were 5 you made a birthday wish.. Do you remember what that was?"

"Dad, I was 5. Everyone wants to be famous when they're 5." Kate pointed out as she bit her lower lip and insisted again, "If you're doing this because you guys think it'll help me, it's not.. I just.. I've spent the past 5 years living a lie. I kinda want to find my own way for once."

"What harm could it do, signing up for the contest?" Paul asked as Stephanie watched them, trying not to smile. She knew of course that Paul had selfish reasons for doing this, and mostly it was because he wanted to see Kate more, he hardly saw her anymore.. And more importantly, he thought that her doing this might at least make for a fun memory, make her happy,even if only for a little while.

"Because, Dad. You'd feel obligated to pick me and I don't want that. If I did this, I'd do it on my own, and I'd do it with an impartial panel who didn't know beforehand I was the bosses kid. I'm not some indulgent little princess. I don't wanna be treated special because of who my family is." Kate insisted stubbornly as she looked at her father.

"Okay, if that's what you want." Paul said as Kate groaned and shook her head then said quietly, "Dad, if you wanna help me, don't push this. I'd be the worst diva on the lineup."

"You did MMA and you do kickboxing and jijitsu. You have experience. You were in gymnastics and on cheerleading all through high school, Kate. You won awards, kiddo." Paul argued as she sighed and said "Look.. My faith in anything I thought I could do, anything I thought I was is pretty much shot right now, sir."

He nodded and said "But you've always been a fighter. And you wanted this, at one point in time, so badly you could taste it. You even ran down and interfered in that match between Lita and another girl because ya got pissed off at the way Lita treated Matt offscreen."

"I did, Daddy, but it was because I had a crush on Matt then. I was still young, I thought the stuff I saw on screen was a little real. And she was screwing him over, going behind his back with Edge. I was like 8 or something then, sir, I didn't really have a full grasp of what wasn't real and what was."

He shrugged, waved his hands and said with a laugh "I tried." as he kissed her forehead and then said "I'm gonna go down to the ring. My thing's up first. Just sit back here and watch, relax."

"Trust me. I intend to, Dad. You just go down there and kick ass." Kate said quietly as she hugged her father, waited until the door shut behind him. She glanced back at the damn poster again, then at her hands, then at the pen nearby and bit her lower lip.

She had always wanted to at least try being a Diva.

_'You'll just fail again, Kate. You're a failure, you always have been. You couldn't even keep a marriage together. How the hell do you think you'll go out there and do what those other girls do? They're all better than you, prettier than you and way more talented than you. Everyone's better than you are, really.'_ her mind nagged at her.

"Fuck it. I'd never make it if I went up for it on my own. And I don't want to live out my fantasy knowing that I only got here because my daddy picked me or something. I'd never feel happy about it." she muttered as she put down the flier, stood and stretched.

But the flier caught her eye again and still another thought crept into her mind, _'But you'll never know if you don't try, will you? You're probably right anyway, you'd probably fuck it all up 9 ways to Sunday. But not even trying, Kate? That's not your style and you know know somewhere, deep down in there, you've always wanted to do this, to follow in your father and in Stephanie's footsteps.'_ and she lingered in front of the desk, even picked up the pen for a few moments.

She grumbled and then signed her name on the contest lineup, wrote her father a note on his notepad that sat next to the computer that read "I'm gonna do this. But you cannot be the one who votes for or against me. Neither can Steph or grandpa Vince and Uncle Shane. If I do this, dad, and you respect me, what I'm trying to do for myself, if you want me to be happy, you have to find different judges, preferrably ones who don't know me, don't know I'm the 'bosses kid'. If we have a deal, I'll enter."

And then she walked down the hallway and into the catering area, filled herself a plate full of food and sat eating quietly, contemplating her actions just now.

Was she setting herself up for a failure?

Or was she finally going to get a chance at making things go her way, without any outside help or interference, without people telling her she wasn't good enough to do it on her own?

Only time would tell, apparently. Now all she had to do was wait and see what happened as a result of her decision..


	3. Facing The Past

"This is how it has to be, Dad. I told you, if I do this, I'm going to do it my own way. That means no using the Levesque last name." Kate insisted as her father stepped into her hotel room with the flier in hand, looking at her in curiousity. He stayed silent for a few moments and then he said quietly, "I understand where you're comin from, kiddo. But I was the reason you decided not to go after this particular dream, so you have to understand that this is me... I'm doing something I should've done when you asked the first time and giving you my permission."

"I know, Dad. But I'm not going to go into the thing under a name that everyone knows, that everyone will automatically assume I've got to be the winner, either. If this is going to happen, I want it to happen based solely on how good I am at what I have to do.. Not who my parents and grandparents are. Not because I'm the bosses daughter. That's how Steph started, remember how many people back here disliked her and wrote her off for that?" Kate insisted as Paul nodded and said "Fair enough. I just don't get what's wrong with you.. I mean I raised you to believe that the sky was the limit, if you wanted something, by God you took it. What happened to that fight and that fire?"

Kate shrugged and said quietly, "Trust me, Dad, if I could answer that without you going papa bear on me and going off to kill Adam, I'd tell you." feeling a little better. She'd hinted in not so many words what Adam put her through while she'd been with him and married to him. Paul nodded and then said calmly, "Well, I came to tell ya, you're in. The orientation and the meetings start tomorrow, they'll tell you what you're gonna have to do when you're there. And I did what you wanted, I made sure there were judges there that didn't already know you through me or Steph." as he smiled at her and hugged her, asked her a question that she knew he meant well in asking but frankly she was a little sick of hearing the past few days, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm getting there, Dad." she answered patiently as she hugged him and then said quietly, "Thanks for understanding, for not just pushing things to go your way this time. This is just something I've gotta do for me. It's something I've sort of always wanted, I was just too afraid to fail to even bother trying to go for it." before pulling away from the hug, stretching as she said "I noticed you guys are doing the whole Administration thing. I like this time around better, I think. And you're really doing great at selling the whole asshole thing." with a laugh. Paul shrugged and said "It's something to do I guess. Steph's afraid that if I get back in that ring I'll really wind up hurting myself, and after that last go around with Lesnar, it sorta put things into focus for me. I hate that it's gonna come to an end, but everything does sometimes." while looking at her, trying to gauge his daughter's mood, something he used to know like the back of his hand.

He didn't anymore and the thought was a disconcerting one to him. Had 5 years really changed her that much?

"I'm not gonna have to be part of that though, right?" Kate asked as he chuckled and then said with a smirk "Why?"

"Because, Dad, I'd probably pick the unpopular side. And I've never really liked fighting with you, old man." Kate admitted with a shrug and a smirk as she looked at her father who was trying his best not to laugh. "What's so funny?" Kate deadpanned, Paul laughing as he said "That would be an interesting spin on it, I mean last time.."

"Whoa, hold up.. Don't even think about it, Dad." Kate said as she waved her hands and shook her head no vigourously, laughing as she added "I'm not up for all the drama that would bring." which made her father nod and say "There was a time though, kiddo, when you gave me literal fits. You've got a hard head, just like mine."

"I know. And I know now where it'll get me." Kate sighed wistfully as her father nodded and said gently, "I still vote that I get my hands on Adam."

"I vote no. He'd just cry and piss himself. Remember that night you caught us sneaking out? You and Steph came all the way back to Massachussetts because you thought something was fishy when I didn't answer the phone for a while? Yeah, he's not much better at fighting now than he was then. And I don't wanna see my dad behind bars."

Once he'd left the hotel room she flopped back onto her bed, flipped idly through the channels on the television set. She felt more at peace now, finally being out from under the thumb of her control freak of an ex, but she also felt lost. It didn't occur to her that she'd gotten so used to being told what to do and what not to do, how to behave, that she'd gotten so complacent, that now, she didn't have that anymore and she didn't know what to do with herself because of it.

She knew what she wanted, who she was, in a sense, but she really **didn't** know anymore. What she did know, currently, was that she was going to at least try this, if for nothing more than to point out the obvious flaws in this whole Diva Search campaign as she saw them, and that she felt empty now. She'd felt empty for a really long time, but right now, she felt like something was wrong somewhere, something was gone and she couldn't put her finger on what exactly that was.

She'd come back to her family to heal, but she also was starting to realize that maybe she'd actually needed this all along. Maybe before, she'd just been doing what was expected of her by her family.

Had she ever **actually known** who she was and what she wanted?

Her stomach growled and it served to bring her out of her intense moodiness. She stood up and stretched, grabbed her leather jacket and at least attempted to run a brush through her hair before grabbing her key card and walking down the hallway, intent on going to the dining area, getting something to eat and then maybe going down to the beachfront and just being lazy.

Instead, Fate had another idea, because as she turned the corner, she saw Randy Orton, a former boyfriend, her first love and her first real heartbreak. She swore sharply and tried ducking out of sight, flattening herself against a wall, but she heard him call her name. "God damn it. The last person I feel like seeing is the first person I run into. Imagine the irony." she said sarcastically as she stepped out and then said simply, "Randy. It's been a long time." in her best civilized voice.

She honestly wanted to slap him, the pain she felt when he'd humiliated her all that time ago surfaced and even though she tried to push it back down, it just didn't quite work that way really. He'd hurt her and apparently, he'd done so in a more profound way than she even realized back then and was in fact only just realizing how much he hurt her now, seeing him again.

Fate was indeed a cruel bastard, because he still looked devastatingly handsome and even now, with her fists curled so tightly, she longed to climb in his arms and kiss him, to forget the past and just try to pretend it didn't happen. But the adult in her, the reasonable side of her, the hurt side of her realized that she couldn't, and that if she did, she'd just be trading one kind of hell for another.

At least that's what she figured currently.

"Yeah, it has." Randy said quietly as he looked at her, carefully. It was sort of sinking in now, he'd been a huge idiot. His throat was closed and he couldn't really breathe and all he kept wondering was what if he hadn't humiliated her and broken her heart back then?

She looked amazing now, probably better than she had to him back then. He'd convinced himself back then that he was doing the right thing, the best thing for his career, for his personal life when he broke it off with her.. But had he really done the best? "You look.." he s tarted, Kate rolled her eyes and said "Like shit, Orton. And even if you said I didn't, I still wouldn't believe a thing that came out of your mouth."

"I never lied to you."

"No, Randall, you just omitted a few fucking huge facts from what you actually felt. I heard it all that night, remember? You were laughing it up with your boys, saying I was a conquest, a way to get under my father's skin. Well guess what? I'm an adult now and I'm not falling for it twice." Kate said calmly, maintaining an air of non concern as she looked at him and shrugged it all off adding seconds later, "That's the past. I'm not here for you and don't worry.. I'm not gonna go playing the jealous bitch, the ex, the victim. You did what you did, but I was the idiot who believed it all. I think this company has enough crazy in the roster with AJ's antics in the past already."

He gaped at her and then said quietly, "So you think nothing I said was true?"

"Essentially, yes. I'm gonna go now." Kate said as she went to brush past him, only to be stopped. She grumbled, rolled her eyes as she said through gritted teeth, "What don't you get, Orton? I'm above it. I don't actually give a damn now whether you actually meant it or not. It's called growing up and getting over it. And I'm totally done with you."

Randy shook his head and said quietly, "No.. You're not." as he stared into her eyes intently. He leaned in and she pulled back, glared at him and shook her head, laughing. "Cute, Orton. You really will do anything to keep the belts, won't you?" she asked as he stared at her, a little shocked. She'd been sweeter before, a lot less jaded, one hell of a lot less angrier.

What'd happened to her since the last time he'd seen her?

He stepped out of the way and let her walk down the hallway, watched her walking away. "So that's how it's gotta be, huh?" he muttered to himself, raking his hand over his buzz cut hair as he bit his lower lip. Everything he had felt for her was flooding back now, and he was starting to see now just how stupid his actions back then might have been, just how much damage he might have done to not only her, but to himself.

Kate stopped at the elevator and with shaking hands she tried to push the down button, only intent on getting as far away from Randy Orton as she could, not concerned with anything or anyone else around her. "Of all the assholes I could run into first, it had to be that one." she mumbled as the doors to the elevator finally opened and she bolted on, thankfully before Randy could catch up and stop the damn thing.

She'd had enough crap for 5 years to last a lifetime. She wasn't looking to add more. Her cell phone rang and she groaned as she picked it up and recognized the voice on the other end.. "Adam.."

"I got your papers." he said as she laughed and then said quickly, "Good. Then you realize that I'm done taking your shit and everyone else's, correct?" as he chuckled and then said "And I have this to say. You belong to me now. You're not getting a damn divorce. I'll do anything in my power to stop it. I'm a lawyer, I know how to make it take years."

"Knock yourself out with that, fucker, because it doesn't matter if you give me the damn thing or not. I'm done. I'm gone, and I'm never coming back there. Burn all the shit that's mine, sell it, I really don't give a damn. Because if I ever see you again, you won't like the outcome."

"Rich, princess.. Gonna sick daddy on me?"

"Nope, it's really not worth it. Let's just say that my tan's not the only thing I worked on while I was at that photo shoot in Brazil, babe and leave it at that." Kate said as she slammed her phone shut, glared at it a few moments, then smiled at herself in the blurry reflection of the shitty hotel elevator. "Uh oh.. There might just be a little more fight left there after all." she muttered as the doors slid open and she stepped off into the lobby, scanning the crowded area for the dining facilities.

She'd managed to make it through two tests today.. How many more still stood in her way?


	4. Sign In Day

"Green, Katherine." The judge called her name and made her head snap up. She hadn't heard her mother's last name in so long that hearing it now, associated with her first name was kind of weird if she had to say so herself. Either way, she stood and walked up to the sign in table, reached into the bowl that contained a series of numbers, 1 to 1000 and drew one, showed the judge and pinned it on herself, sitting back down.

In the back of the hotel ballroom, a small crowd of roster regulars had already filtered in, most of the girls wearing grim and hateful smirks. To see the way a position on the roster that a lot of them worked a lifetime for, just given away as if it were the easiest thing ever really pissed them off. Something about the girl they'd just called, the way she slunk around, the way she shrugged off any comments when approached by a reporter, sort of made them wonder just why she was there.

She didn't have the typical 'look' that most of the other contestants had, she wasn't some groupie who was clinging desperately to the hope that she'd win a spot and then land her dream wrestler and live happily after. No, this girl just looked.. Intense was probably the best word to sum it all up. She stood about 5'2 and she had this exotic sort of look to her, wide green eyes, a deep tan as if she spent a lot of time outdoors, well toned, as if she wasn't a stranger to actual physical activity (for the most part, most of the other contestants had that 'superskinny' pre adolescent boy body, or they were curvy and flaunting it), and long blackish brown hair that she did nothing with except for maybe tie up in a bandanna to keep it out of her eyes once in a while.

"What do you make of number 29?" Eva asked the Bella twins who shrugged and said "She looks like she's out for blood, really. Like she's here to prove something."

"I don't like her." Eva stated, Cameron snorting in laughter as she said in a whisper, "You wouldn't. She's actually competition.. Did you guys see that Russian Leg Sweep earlier?"

"Or that dirty pin?" Natalya asked as she sized up the girl in question thoughtfully. If she didn't know any better, she'd almost swear she'd seen the girl somewhere before.. But something was off.

"I don't think she's naturally so dark haired." AJ spoke up as Tamina nodded and said "You saw the blondish brown streak too? Can we say bad dye job?" as she snickered and stopped when the girl's eyes met hers, the girl gave a small smirk and turned back around in her seat where she was talking to some of the other 'girls' who'd come out for the big contest, their shot at 15 minutes in the spotlight.

"Did she really just smirk at me?" Tamina mumbled, her eyes blazing angrily for a moment as Naomi nudged her and said "Shhh girl.. Calm yourself. The tryouts and shit are about to begin. Can't wait to see what demeaning crap these girls will do just to get on the show." with a light laugh. "God forbid any of them actually have to fight and work, earn their spot." Natalya said in disgust as Eva snorted and said "Says the legacy kid?"

"At least I did work for it. Why don't you just shut the fuck up, go back to doing playboy or whatever it is you started out doing already, leave the real wrestling to us real women?" Natalya flared angrily as Eva stood and Brie quickly stepped between both of them and reminded them, "Camera's on us. We have to look like we all get along. If the reporters here smell a hint of dissention among us, they'll take that and run."

AJ spoke up and then said quietly, "I for one am completely disgusted. It's making a mockery of all of us."

"And you were on NXT.. That was almost the same thing, or did all those bumps to the head in that last match make you forget that?" Nikki stated as AJ glared and fell silent, crossed her arms and mumbled "This still sucks. Whoever they pick is just going to be a damn airhead like Eva."

"We don't know that, AJ." Aksana said as Alicia looked at her and then said quietly, "Nope but I'm pretty damn sure that's how it'll happen. We all know what it takes to get to the top around here. A deep throat and big boobies." which made Tamina almost double over in laughter.

In the front of the room, Kate reclined in her seat, legs draped carelessly over the back of the seat one row in front of her, dark tinted sunglasses down over her eyes. She'd probably had one too many the night before at the hotel bar, and then she'd been back up at 3 am working out in the hotel gym so right now, all she wanted to do was get the meet and greet and sign in bullshit done before she crashed for the afternoon. Her initial shock was wearing off, she knew now that this was happening, and if she wanted her lifelong dream to come true, it was up to her solely to really wow the judges and the naysayers in the back, mainly the other Divas and Superstars that'd come to watch, at least 90 percent of the Divas being completely and totally pissed off at the thought of the company even holding another stupid contest like Diva Search.

"So.. what guy are you gonna go after?" a girl from Nevada named Dana asked her, she looked up from picking at the polish on her nails and raised a brow, Dana continuing, "Like, if you win.. What guy are you gonna go after? I bet Ambrose. You just have that crazy vibe, girl."

Kate hissed at her and then smirking said through gritted teeth, "Me? Go after one of the guys?" as she rolled her eyes in disbelief at the girl sitting next to her, tried to turn her head and pretend interest in her phone to dissuade further conversation.

"Why not? They're all fine." Dana said as she added dreamily, "I'm gonna go after Randy. Nothing but the best for me." to which Kate bristled and then retorted "Sure.. Let me know how that shit works out for ya, right?" in her sweetest yet most sarcastic voice. Just hearing his name made her think about how bad he'd hurt her all over again, this girl with the misguided notion that love could actually be found, on this roster, baffled her all the same. Especially since the girl had done nothing but brag all morning about how she was 'the best' and she 'had experience' and how she'd be 'the champs girl', she just knew it.

"So, are ya gonna go after one of 'em?" she tried again, Kate stood and moved 3 seats down to sit between two girls named Jade and Ivy to get away from the vapid airhead vibes before they invaded her brain. Jade turned to her and said quietly, "We're not all like Dana and the dreamers over there. I've wanted to do this since I was 4."

"Me too." Kate said as she tilted her head to the side, turned in her seat and folded her legs indian style beneath her, asked "Who was your first ever idol on here? Mine was actually Undertaker... Or Austin." in curiousity. Jade smirked and nodding said through a mouth full of M&M's "I like you." as she added "Kane, definitely. Though I gotta say, my daddy, he was real big into Andre The Giant."

"Damn it, how the hell could I have forgotten that guy." Kate laughed easily and then said "So.. If you got in.. Would you be a baddie or a goodie?"

"Girl.. I'd be a baddie, same as you." Jade said with a nod of her head. Kate shook her head and said simply, "I wouldn't actually make a good villian.." as Jade shook her head and said "You've got that kinda edgy thing going on.. Kinda like a biker?"

"You mean the cutoffs and boots? Girl, this is just the first thing I had clean when I finally dragged my ass outta bed this morning." Kate joked as she leaned in and whispered "Looks like the Divas hate us all, huh?"

"They're gonna really have it in for the winner." Jade said as Ivy leaned in and asked "Did you guys hear some of the shit they're gonna make us do? You do know we have to convincingly sell a romantic kayfabe for the judges, right? With a partner or two of their choosing?"

"Damn it. God damn it, what the fuck?" Kate swore as she glared daggers at the judges table and then said with a smirk, "Fuck it.. This is only gonna come around once in my life and given the past few years I've had, hell, ladies, I'm gonna enjoy it." with a cheeky wink and shrug as she raked her hands through her newly dyed blackish brown hair.

She'd had to change her appearance, a few of the current roster lineup knew her vaguely. She wasn't leaving anything to chance. She wanted nothing to taint this experience for her. It was also why she'd shed the look she normally went for (sexy and decidedly girly for the most part, fitted jeans and low cut tops, mini skirts and heels) for a slightly edgier one.

And honestly, she was starting to wonder if this whole transformation wasn't in some small way leading her to who she really was. The judge finished the lineup and then lunch was called for the day. Not ready to go back to her hotel room and do basically nothing for a few hours, she turned to Jade and Ivy and asked "You guys up for a few drinks on the beach?"

"Let's do it, girl." Jade said as Ivy nodded and the three of them made their way out past Dana and a large group of girls, Dana calling out in a mockingly sweet voice, "Good luck girls."

"Same to you." Kate said as she added under her breath, "Because Barbie, you're really, really gonna need it." as she and her two new friends slunk out the door and into the hotel's lobby.

Behind her, Randy sat pondering this, a small smirk crept onto his face.. So she was back.. But she was trying out in Diva Search.. Interesting.. He had to wonder if the look and the alias meant that Daddy still overprotected her. He wondered what made her decide to do this now.. She'd made her own fame, modeling swimsuits and jeans for some clothing company, she'd even done a few photo shoots for some magazine his former wife used to read religiously, and a small (and really, really bad) role in a movie or something.

So why come back and why enter Diva Search?

All this had him curious, but not as curious as a few other people who'd seen her at the audition sign in and gotten curious too.. But they'd make themselves known in good time. For now, Kate remained bitter, burned and uncaring, just trying to find herself again after having lost herself in someone way too deeply for the better part of 5 years.

That was going to be quite a journey, in itself. And apparently, it was all going to start here, where it all really started before.


	5. New Friends And Old Lovers

"Look at them, I mean seriously, do they really think any of them stand a chance with one of the guys?" Kate asked Jade as the two of them watched the girl from earlier in the day, Dana and her little so called 'minions' trying to flirt up any and every single male Superstar on the roster.

"It's disgusting's what it is." Jade answered matter of factly as she reached into the six pack between them in the sand and popped the long neck bottle against the side of the wooden lounge chair, guzzled about half of the Guiness in the bottle before adding, "If those guys fall for that crap, they're stupider than I thought."

"Agreed. Although, I've heard vapid airheads are right up Orton's alley." Kate mused, keeping private that once, she'd been like Dana, and she'd been a bit of a space cadet when she'd dated Randy back then and he'd broken her heart to bits.

"Ughh, seriously, she'd lick his ass if he asked her to, wouldn't she?" Ivy grimaced as she flopped carelessly onto another wooden chair near them and said "Just thought I'd tell you two, there's word going around that two of the Divas on the lineup are kind of gunning for both of you. Not sure why, guess they feel threatened maybe?"

Kate laughed and then stopped laughing and asked seriously, "Which ones? God I hope it's that bitch with the yapping ass mouth and the flaming red hair."

"She's one of them, actually." Ivy replied as she settled into the chair lazily, pulled out a bottle of black nail polish and began painting her nails which made Jade grimace and give her a dirty look then ask "Seriously? You're gonna sit here and paint your nails? We're strategizing."

"Umm, I beg to differ. When I walked over, you two bitches were laughing about the way Dana the living barbie doll was throwing herself at that one oily guy."

"It's Randy Orton." Jade and Kate said with gritted teeth and rolled eyes, pretending to swoon like Dana and her friends were currently. Ivy laughed and then said "You might wanna stop mocking the guy."

"The hell I will." Kate flared as Randy spoke up from behind her and said "Katherine Green."

"Randy Orton. Should I faint now or..." Kate said sarcastically as she gave him a slightly dirty look and turned back around, thinking he'd just walk away. Instead, he scooted onto the seat behind her, took the bottle of sunblock and said into her ear, "You used to have that smooth, soft, melt in my mouth porcelain skin. Wouldn't want you to burn." as he dripped the lotion onto his hands, started rubbing it into her shoulders.

She sat up, leaned away and practically growled "The fuck? Are you even remotely serious right now, Orton? Get lost." as she pointed to the direction he'd come from, her facial expression definitely not pleased.

He chuckled and leaned in, even as she tried to get further away and said into her ear again, "You really don't think you're gonna get rid of me that easy now do ya?"

"Nope, but I'm pretty sure if I put you on your ass you just might get the picture." Kate replied as she gave Jade and Ivy a shrug.

"Girls." Randy gave her two friends in the competition nods as he stood and then said "And I'll see you around, Katherine."

"It's Kate, asshole. And no you probably won't." Kate said firmly as she stared after him, a hint of longing in her glace, her arms crossed tightly over her chest as she bit her lower lip and all but screamed and had a fit in frustration.

"Wow.. What the hell was that?" Jade and Ivy asked at the same time as Kate shrugged and said "Obviously the guy's got me confused with one of these other dumbasses. Let's drink girls." in a hurry, hoping her cover wasn't blown, because she finally had friends she liked for the first time in a really, really long time and she didn't want to lose that just yet.

Across the beach, Dean Ambrose watched the whole bizarre scene between Randy and one of the contestants playing out with vague disinterest. Something about the girl had made him give her a second look earlier, but seeing the boss's pet there now, oiling her up, seeing her interact with Randy, he was basically writing her off as another girl who was only here to find a man.

"Look at 'em. Does Levesque really think he's gonna find the next top Diva in that group of bimbos?" Dean mused aloud as Seth looked up and shrugging said "The three off to themselves seem like they're pretty badass."

"They're girls, Rollins. They only care about girly shit." Dean said as he smirked, twisted the beer bottle in his hand, flicking the cap at the sand. He scowled and shotgunned his beer then said aloud, "What about you, Reigns."

Roman shrugged and then said quietly, "I kinda agree with Rollins. They seem okay, just highly doubtful they'll win, hell, they probably won't make it past the first cut. We all know what McMahon's looking for whenever he holds this stuff."

"Exactly. Brainless, talentless bimbos." Dean chorused as he leaned back in the chair, halfway off of it, watching the lone group of 3 girls sitting a few yards away, closer to the ocean.

Something about the snarky dark haired girl drew him to watch her, but he wasn't about to go over and try to talk to her like Orton had seconds ago.

"Little mama's an ice queen though. Did you guys see her brush off Orton? None of the other girls have brushed off Orton." Seth said with a laugh as Dean shrugged and said "So she brushed off the company golden boy. If she brushes off god damn Cena then I'll say I'm impressed. She's just a fuckin girl, Rollins."

Seth snickered. He could tell by the way Ambrose was edgy and kept looking over in that direction that the girl, whether she liked it or not, she'd managed to grab Dean's attention, no matter how short and fleeting it might be.

In some ways, he felt sorry for the girl. Dean was a crazy bastard, everyone knew that. Even the girls who'd entered the contest seemed leery of him and wouldn't be around him if they happened to be in a room and he walked in alone and they were alone as well.

Across the beach, Kate stretched and through a yawn said aloud "So.. Anybody wonder what they'll make us do for the first round of competition tomorrow?" as Ivy pondered over it a few moments and then said with a laugh "Probably the most embarassing thing they can come up with. You do realize that a lot of the Superstars and Divas are being allowed to come up with this shit, right?"

"Nah. That's just some bullshit rumor." Kate said reassuringly as she laughed and said "But you are right though... these things are never more than a popularity contest. That's why I'm kinda thinkin you guys won't see me past round 1."

"Oh come on.. We like ya, Kate." Jade said as Kate gave a laugh and smiling quietly said "Thanks. I like you guys too. Just don't see anybody else liking me.. I'm kinda mouthy." as she shrugged and fumbled around in the pocket of her cutoffs producing a nearly crushed pack of cigarettes and a lighter, lighting one up as she leaned back in the chair and said "Can't hurt a girl to dream though, right?"

"Exactly. If anyone's going home it'll be me." Jade said as Kate and Ivy laughed then said "Why?"

"Because if they get anybody like Heath Slater anywhere near the general vicinity of these lips,girls, I'll probably headbutt the bastard."

"He's not that bad." Kate laughed as Ivy shook her head and said "It could be worse.. I mean they could put you with Bray in a scenario. Follow the buzzards, ca, ca." and started to double over in laughter, Jade muttering "Oddly enough, I'd prefer Bray."

The girls exchanged a look and Jade shrugged, laughed as she said "But I'm only here to kick ass. Like you guys."

"Exactly."

"Amen to that." Kate said as she took a long pull from her 3rd beer of the afternoon and looked out at the ocean, smiling in content.

At least her father hadn't went all out and all but laid out the red carpet for her when she signed on to do it. He respected her enough, got her enough that he knew she'd rather have the hard way through the contest, (because she felt obviously that the contest itself was kind of a flawed process and she'd only originally signed up for this to prove that point) than just be thrown into the company with no chance to earn it and prove herself.

"So.. What are we gonna have to do tomorrow?" Kate asked aloud as Ivy dug around through her pockets and pulled out the balled up itinerary and consulted it, using a singsong voice as she read out "First we're going to have to introduce ourselves.. We get to pick our theme song, costume, the works, according to this.. Then we'll have to demonstrate our chosen skills.. Then we get lunch and the judges deliberate and vote.. When we're called back in, we'll be grouped off and then given our scores.. The two with the lowest scores will have to go against one another, in the ring, to stay in the competition. So... What's your skill going to be?" Ivy asked as she finished reading off the schedule of events for the first day of competition, eyeing Kate and Jade intently.

"Beats the hell outta me.. I thought about arm wrestling or something, maybe doing my old floor routine from back in gymnastics.." Jade said as Kate shrugged and said " Gonna shoot an apple off of the top of Dana's head with a bow and arrow." which made Ivy and Jade look at her, burst into laughter as Kate said "Hey.. Laugh it up but I was damn good at archery. And then I'll do some MMA stuff I learned. Or I'll do the archery and this neat little party trick involving a dart board and a knife and demonstrate a little of the MMA I know."

"Make it a flaming arrow, girl and that'll be awesomesauce." Jade joked as Ivy nodded in agreement then said " Gonna play my guitar and then do some of the kickboxing I've learned."

"Wonder what those other idiots talents will be?" Jade asked in amusement as she shot a disgusted look across the beach at Dana and her friends who by now had moved on to Roman Reigns, the poor guy looked as if he didn't know whether to run or spear one of them so they'd leave. Jade, Ivy and Kate laughed as they looked at each other and said "That poor poor bastard."

"It's his own damn fault. And the guys can't say they don't love this shit and eat the attention right up." Kate said quietly as she thought about one guy in particular and glared at him while neither of her new friends were looking at her.

"So.. is it all men you hate, Kate, or just the ones on the roster?" a voice asked from behind as Kate choked on her beer, spat it everywhere when she finally stopped choking and turned around to find Jack Swagger standing there, looking at her in amusement.

"Aw hell, you're a big boy.. You oughta know the answer to that one." Kate said simply as she leaned back, mentally kicking herself. She didn't know Jack, thank God, or she'd be squirming and awkward right now, afraid he'd spill about who her father really was.

Hell, luckily enough for her, at least 90 percent of the roster that actually knew her were all older and sworn to absolute secrecy by her father and stepmother, or gone from the WWE roster and finished wrestling.

And any of the guys that might remember her barely knew her to begin with, had only seen her a scant handful of times before she finally stopped coming on the road with her stepmother and her father back then. And back then she'd been a lot pudgier, a lot nerdier, she'd been the epitome of an awkward teenage (or early 20 something) girl.

So she didn't know very many of the guys on the lineup now. Otherwise this would be hard as hell to pull off.

"Maybe you just met the wrong one, huh?" Jack said as he smirked and then said quickly, "Sorry.. I just saw the tan line where a ring would go.. I had to comment."

"It's cool. And no, Jack, I don't actually hate any of the guys on the roster. Just know from personal experience that all fighters, whether they be MMA, UFC, professional wrestling or boxing are actually huge babies." Kate explained carefully as she again shot a glance at Randy. He'd been the only fighter she'd dated, but she was going from her own personal experience, as limited as that might be.

"Not all of us. That's the pretty boys, woman. The rest of us are honest to God men.. Right Cesaro?" Jack said with a laugh as he flopped down onto the sand, nodded to the beer and asked "Mind if I?" with Kate tossing first him one and then Antonio Cesaro who shook his head, declined and said in his heavy accent, "I'd rather not. Not my brand. But Swagger is correct. The rest of us are men."

"Right.. You probably like that weird foreign shit, huh? And trust me, hon, I've noticed." Jade asked, smirking at Antonio. Kate sensed that maybe jade liked the guy or something so she shot Jade a wink and said "Just here to kick ass huh?" under her breath as Jade whispered back, "Like you said earlier, girl.. This is only gonna happen once in my life. Might as well live it up until they kick my ass to the curb later in the week."

"So.. You girls wanna share your thoughts with the rest of us or are we not cool enough?" Jack joked as Kate shrugged and said aloud "Just talking to Jade about living it up while we had the chance." as Jade gave her a dirty look that she ignored.

"What about you though.. You're not nervous?"

"Hell no. I either make it or I don't." Kate said as she shrugged and took a few big sips of her beer then sighed, refreshed. She sat the empty bottle down neatly in line with the others she'd drank and jokingly said "We're gonna try and see how tall we can make a pyramid."

"And that's all you got so far? Damn girl." Jack said as he finished off his bottle, sat it in the lineup and shrugged. "So.. why aren't you three mingling?"

"Why bother? They're looking for an airheaded model type. Besides, I'm gonna be me through all this, not some trained circus monkey who spends her time trying to entertain people in the hopes that they'll like her or shoot her a pity vote in the end. Right girls?" Ivy said as she sat her own beer in the lineup and looking up added "Personally? I'd rather not catch some kind of airborn std from that Dana person or one of her friends. We'd talk to the actual talent, the real stars, but we're not here to try and find a man and we're afraid that given the girls currently flocking to them, they'd automatically think we were trying to flirt or something. We're actually here for the whole experience."

"Including the hazing?" Antonio said as he tried to hide a smirk, he was trying to rattle the 3 girls. Jack tried not to laugh as he looked at his friend and nodded, seeing what Antonio was up to. "Yeah, because the hazing, especially with the girls is always brutal as hell. Y'all can't say I didn't warn ya." Jack added, flashing a boyish grin as he and Antonio stood and took off, heading down the beach to some arcade they'd apparently been about to go to to kill a few hours.

Ivy lowered her shades and turned up Green Day on the small boombox they had sitting with them in their space and said aloud "Hazing my ass. Those two were trying to intimidate us."

"How do you know they're not gonna put us through hell, Ivy? Those other girls on the roster looked really, really pissed that this was being done again, I wouldn't put it past them, actually." Jade mused as Kate snickered and said "Like I'm worried about the possibility of a hazing. I mean what's the worst they could try and do? Make us walk through the hotel lobby naked? Hell, give me enough tequila and I'll do that willingly."

"Does anything actually scare you, Kate?" Jade asked with an amused grin as Kate nodded and said solemnly, "Lots of things.. But it's not stupid shit like going bare assed naked or embarassing myself. Spiders, man.."

"Snakes."

"Cats." Ivy said as Jade and Kate looked at her and then at each other, shrugged.

"Fuckin mice." Kate said as she thought about more things that scared her and began to realize just how scarred the past 5 years of hell she'd been through had actually made her. Her actual fears were too deep to really list without talking about what had happened to her.

And the last thing she wanted to do was come down from the good mood she was in presently. She'd been so long without feeling this genuinely happy, at ease, comfortable in her own skin that she really didn't want anything to ruin that for her.

Finally, she was starting to feel a little more alive. And each day that passed, each time she did something that Adam had pretty much 'forbidden' her from doing, each day that she woke up free from his bitching and low rating her, well.. It put that much distance between her and the hell she was getting out of.

Maybe she'd made the right decision to come to her parents, get away from Adam and his messed up kind of 'love'.


	6. May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor- 1

" You can't use that song. You have to use one of these." the audio guy insisted as Kate smirked and said casually, "You think so, huh? Well I'm not coming out to this pop bullshit. Play One Finger And A Fist, okay?"

The audio guy gave her a dirty look but took the flash drive containing her theme song and she made her way through the crowd and towards the costume area, almost doubling over in laughter as she thumbed through the racks.

"Yeah.. How about no way in motherfucking hell am I wearing this crap." she mused aloud as her father spoke up from behind her and said with a laugh "Having fun yet?"

"And you wonder why I keep telling you this is nothing more than a beauty contest on steroids?" Kate mused as she held up the outfit choices and raised a brow, wiggling her brows suggestively. Her father chuckled and then said "Nervous?"

"I could puke my guts up right now, sir, but I actually kind of like 's nice to feel nervous again. Haven't in a long time." Kate admitted as her father smirked and then said "Just go out there in what you've got on. If you're going for this new look, might as well commit to it. I like it, it kinda brings back memories."

"Yeah.. DX. I miss that." Kate admitted as Paul said "Speaking of.. You need to take your butt over to see Jesse and Billy. They've been bugging the shit out of me to see you. It took 'em at least 20 minutes to figure out who you were in the line up yesterday then they still didn't believe it.. Why the hell did you dye your hair black, kiddo?"

"Because, dad.. A few of the people on the roster know me but don't really know me well enough to put two and two together. When I said I wanted nobody knowing who I was, Daddy, I meant it."

Paul nodded and then said with a smile, "I'm gonna go find my seat now.. I saw what you put down for your skills.. Archery? Throwing a knife at a dartboard?"

"Nobody else out there is doing it. I like being different." Kate said with a shrug as her father hugged her and said quietly, "It's outta my hands kiddo. But I'm keeping my fingers crossed. It's just nice to see you smiling a little, having a good time for once. Just remember.. I'm gonna love ya and be damn proud of ya kiddo, even if you don't win. The important thing is you tried. You won't have any regrets when you look back in life."

She nodded and smiled and her father walked away quickly before someone saw them talking to each other and insinuated something about her, or worse, put two and two together and figured out who she was..

She looked at herself in the mirror and smiled a little. She was having fun. More fun than she'd been allowed or allowed herself to have in the past few years. Even if she didn't make it beyond this round, she'd have the memories and she might have a few new friends when she came out of this.

Her number was called and she slunk down the ramp, carrying her bow and arrow, as One Finger And A Fist played. In the crowd, she heard what sounded like Jesse and Billy yell something and groaned inwardly but kept her face a mask of non concern. She couldn't let any crowd reaction phase her or it'd make her look unprofessional.

Drew leaned in to Sheamus and with a laugh asked "And wot in ta bloody hell is ta lass gonna do wit tat ting?"

Sheamus shrugged and grinned a little, clapped as he studied the petite dark haired female intently. He'd met almost all the other contestants so far, he'd yet to meet her, but he actually wanted to because . She normally kept to herself or spent her time with two other girls in the competition named Ivy and Jade, she didn't try chasing down all the currently signed roster members like over half the other girls in the contest seemed to.

At the judge's nod, Kate took a mic and said with a smirk "Kate Green. Not Kat or Katie or Katherine or any of that other cutesy bullshit. Just Kate." as she took an apple from the pocket of the oversized mens leather jacket she wore.

Drew and Sheamus turned to each other and raised a brow and Kate said simply, "A volunteer from the audience?"

Dana looked around as Kate pointed to her then shook her head, tried to beg out of it, Kate pretending to pout as she said "Oh come on.. I'm not gonna hurt ya. If I wanted to hurt ya, D, I'd have shot the damn thing at your face already. Although I do think an arrow hole would be a vast improvement."

This outright and bold cattiness had a few of the Divas looking at the girl and then at each other and laughing a little, quietly. Natalya leaned in and whispered to Nikki "At least it's not something cutesy like the last few girls.. If I see one more demonstration for yoga or being a human bendy straw I will throw up."

"Is that a dart board in the corner though? And the judge said she was going to do 3 demonstrations?" Nikki mused as Brie said with a smirk, "Bet she misses. It'll be hilarious." as Tamina leaned in and said "At least she's trying to be entertaining. The rest of these girls except a few others all seem to be focused on the looks aspect."

Dana glared and stood, walking stiffly into the ring where Kate held out the apple. Dana gave her a look and Kate pointed to the top of her head and said in a mockingly cheerful tone, "You're gonna wanna be real still, doll, or else this will go all kinds of wrong. We don't want any more air getting in that pretty little head of yours now do we, D?"

Dana paled and gulped but sat the apple on her head and waited. She squeezed her eyes shut as her heart raced and when she heard Kate swearing she peeked through one eye and started to laugh. Kate glared and held up her bow in a mockingly threatening way and then said with a smirk, "Permission to try again, sir?"

The judge shook his head no and Kate pouted a moment and then said "Ah well then. You can go sit now, D. You served your purpose.. Besides, I'm pretty damn sure you don't wanna volunteer to do this next thing. An arrow woulda been messy, but a knife to the eyeball? That'd be really, really bad. And I don't miss when it comes to darts."

Dana glared and stormed to her seat, Nikki and Brie exchanging looks as Brie said "Told you she'd miss. Bet she misses the dart board too. She's just trying to look like a badass and scare everyone."

"It's really all she's got, her only shot at winning." Eva mused as Natalya almost snickered and muttered loud enough for Eva to hear and glare at her when she said "It's better than giving the best blow job though."

"Girls, pipe down, damn." Nikki said as she focused on the girl in the ring and asked aloud, "So, who does she think she is? Katniss Everdeen?"

"She reads? Amazing." AJ mocked from her end of the row, Nikki shooting her a go to hell look as AJ mouthed "Oops" and laughed while watching the girl intently. She kind of liked the girl in the ring for the simple fact that she seemed different than the other girls trying out in the competition. She embraced her weirdness, AJ admired that.

Randy sat in the back watching Kate in the ring, a smile on his face. Now he was seeing shades of the old Kate, the one he now wished he'd never given up in the first place. He almost laughed so hard he fell out of his seat when she told another contestant, Dana, off during her first demonstration. A tap to his shoulder had him turning around and John Cena whispered "Is that her?"

"Who?"

"Don't give me that shit, Randy, you know damn well who I'm talking about.. Katey Levesque. Your girl.. Remember? The one you're always whining about breaking things off with?"

"Nah.." Randy lied as John coughed and used it to cover the word "Bullshit." as Randy turned around and leaned in, whispered "Between you and me, man, yeah it is.. But she's under an alias and she's acting like she doesn't know me."

"Ouch. Burned, huh?" John joked as Randy flipped him off and said quietly, "I deserve it, kinda.. I mean I treated her like shit then."

"So is she using an alias because of Trips? Or just because?"

"I don't know, man.. I used to think I knew everything about her.. Now I don't know. She's totally different." as he fell silent, watched her digging through her pockets.

He saw a gleam of silver and then heard someone in the front start yelling and clapping, making comments and then he saw her bow.

When he looked at the dartboard, a knife stuck out of the bullseye.

Kate threw the knife and crossed the fingers on one hand after shoving it into her jacket pocket. She used to be really good at darts when she was younger, wilder.. She hadn't played in almost 6 years now, and the last time she had played had been with Randy, who was the one who'd taught her how to play in the first place.

She had no idea if this particular trick was even going to go in her favor. But when she heard Jade and Ivy clapping and yelling as the knife found the board and lodged in it, she realized she'd actually fucking done it.

Bullseye.

She bowed jokingly and then slunk to the dartboard and grabbed her pocket knife, said casually, "And now for the hard one.. I'm gonna do it backwards."

"Now she's just showing off." one of the girls in the back muttered as Randy smirked to himself, watched her and muttered under his breath "I taught her that."

"And she still sucks at it." John joked as the knife was thrown again and this time landed on the outer edge of the dart board. John corrected himself and said with a joking grin, "At least she's not as bad as she was then, huh? I think that one bartender was pulling knives and darts out of everything but the dartboard."

Kate turned around and grumbled when she saw the knife lodged in the outer ring of the dartboard. But she could look out into the crowd and tell she had the attention of the judges and a few of the Superstars and Divas, so that would have to do.

She'd tried her best and she couldn't say she hadn't. She'd done something unusual and risky. Now she had to wonder if it'd work in her favor or work against her.

Dean choked on a stick of gum as he leaned in and asked Roman, "Did she just throw a fuckin knife? Can they fuckin do that?"

Seth nodded and asked with a smirk, "Impressed yet?"

"Hell no. She missed, god damn it. Besides, she's still a god damn girl. She's only here for one reason. That's all any of the girls here want, man. They want the D."

"Right. Because they all are. Are you jealous because Roman and I have been getting all the love from the ladies, Dean?" Seth joked as Dean glared and said through gritted teeth, "Fuck you, Rollins, in the ass with a cactus." before falling silent, going back to his own personal and silent assessment of the petite dark haired girl in the ring currently.

Okay, so she wasn't **exactly** like the other girls. But it still didn't mean that he was gonna just fall over at her feet or something, fawn over her like his idiot friend Seth seemed to be. Or like one or two of the other guys on the roster that he knew from overhearing conversations, liked the girl in the ring right now.

Drew and Sheamus coughed and shared smirks as they watched Kate move from demonstrating archery, which she'd messed up, they suspected mostly for the comedic flair, and then into demonstrating how to throw a knife at a dartboard.

When the knife hit bullseye the first time, Drew muttered aloud "Bloody hell. Remoind me never ta piss off tat one, will ya?"

"She'd have made te second shot if she 'adn't been bloody overtrowin et." Sheamus said as he clapped and smiled brightly, whistling. It'd definitely been amusing. Most of the other girls had been demonstrating things like yoga or dancing, or walking like models. It'd been a refreshing change to see a girl get out there with a bow and arrow, a knife and a dartboard.

"Shh, Sheamus.. Ta lass is gon ta go again." Drew said as Sheamus nodded and then winced when she again asked for a volunteer and one of the girls in the competition stepped up. Apparently, this strange girl was also into MMA.

"So she can foight." the two men said as Drew snickered and said "Put tat other lass on 'er back."

"Not bad. Definitely not wot ah was expectin ta see 'er do when she came out." Sheamus mused as Drew nodded in agreement.

The two of them clapped along with some of the others watching casually.

Kate finished her MMA demonstration and took a bow then stepped out of the ring, slinking back to her seat, facing the front. She didn't dare turn around because she had the feeling Randy would be sitting back there, staring right at her.

Darts had been something they'd done together. But she hadn't wanted to do some lame ass thing and risk not being remembered by the judges when time to vote someone out came. She worried that her purposely messing up the archery thing for the comedic aspect of it was going to go against her, even though she'd seen at least three of the judges laughing amongst themselves.

"Katniss." someone hissed. Kate raised a brow but turned around quickly, looking for who might have hissed that.

Seconds later, after she'd turned back around again, she felt a tap to her right shoulder and for a moment, she pretended to ignore it. But she finally turned around and raised a brow to find Zack Ryder sitting there, a bright and amused grin, Dolph Ziggler beside him.

"I'm gonna call you Katniss too." Dolph joked as Kate raised a brow and started to ask why, then remembered reading the Hunger Games series.

"Yeah, I'm totally not Katniss. I'd actually be the first to die if I were in the Hunger Games. Did you not see my fail of a shot?" Kate said jokingly as Dolph shrugged and said "Whatevs. I'd been starting to drift off and then you came out there with the bow and arrow. That was awesome."

"I, ermm.. Thanks, I think? I personally thought it'd be percieved as psychotic or weird, but hey, I'm glad it amused." Kate said as Dolph smirked and then asked "You really don't do the whole talking thing well, huh?"

"Honestly? No." Kate answered as she looked at Zack and asked "What'd you think?"

"It was most definitely the funniest thing this broski's seen all day, broskette." Zack stated as Kate laughed and then nodding said "I didn't wanna just blend in with all the other dancers and actresses that were up there today.. Besides, I'm probably gonna fuck up the scenario thing royally because I cannot act for the life of me. And if they pair me with people I don't particularly like, well, I'm not too sure I'd be able to mask it.. Kinda have a short fuse." Kate admitted sheepishly as she raked a hand through her hair and leaned back in her chair.

The other girls finished doing their introductions and demonstrations and she found Jade and Ivy in the crowd and the three of them gathered in a circle and crossed their fingers as they looked at each other and the other girls in their own little groups.

"So now we wait, huh?"

"Yeah.. I'm gonna go collapse somewhere. This is the most nervewracking part of it all. Waiting. Saw you talking to Dolph Ziggler and Zack Ryder.. They came to talk to us too." Jade said as she smirked at Kate who shrugged and said "At least if we don't have looks or acting to go on, we know the judges won't forget our talents." in a joking tone. Ivy laughed and nodded as she added quietly, "God, how long is this gonna take?"

"Probably a few hours.. Wanna go grab food? I'm starved." Jade said as she glared at a girl named Cloe who'd sort of pissed her off earlier in the competition when she gave her a cheap shot during their sparring session for the judges.

"Hey, who was hissing Katniss at me earlier? I mean I know Ziggler's threatening to call me Katniss but the person hissing it at first didn't sound like him." Kate asked her friends as Ivy shrugged and Jade said with a smirk "Rollins, I think. Because Ambrose, the moron, was trying to get your attention or something and he kept calling you Kat."

"And they got Katniss from my demonstrations. Great. So I'm gonna be the Katniss Everdeen of professional wrestling." Kate grumbled as she unwrapped a piece of gum and eyed the crowd intently. Ivy snickered and then threw in with a teasing grin "It's better than being Bella Swan or one of the actual Bellas though, right?" making the whole thing a slight literary joke that had the three friends laughing together, each of them getting what it meant.

"Totally." Kate said with a smirk as she laughed with her friends and scanned the crowd a little more, trying to find Randy. She knew he'd been there watching, unfortunately, she was all too aware of the man, even when she tried her damndest not to be.

"Who are you looking for?" Jade asked curiously as Kate shrugged and said in a quiet voice "Nobody. Just looking around, that's all. Let's go find food. My stomach's growling so loud right now I'm betting half these people hear it." to change the subject.

She knew it wasn't Rollins who'd been hissing at her just now.. She had a sneaking suspicion that she knew who it was, and she found herself wondering why this time around Randy Orton couldn't just leave her the hell alone and let the past stay in the past.

She wasn't open to being a glutton for punishment. Even if she did still feel something for him, she wasn't about to be stupid enough to fall for his games again. The three of them made their way out and to Kate's car, pulling out of the parking lot. They went to find food, stopping at a Wendy's and while they were in line, their phones rang and they started to jump up and down screaming and shrieking happily like they'd all just won the lottery.

They were safe for this round. They'd be moving on to the next round which would take place tomorrow. They weren't going to have to battle it out with someone for their spot in the next round, they'd gotten in safely.

Now all Kate had to do was hope to hell her luck held. But she was happy knowing that she was doing this totally on her own. Nobody really knew who she was. Some might suspect, and Randy might know, but so far, he hadn't spilled to anyone and nobody had just outright said something about her being familiar, or something, or just outed who she was outright.

She hated keeping the secret, especially from her new friends, but she knew that if she wanted this badly enough, on her own terms and in her own way, not just handed to her, she'd have to keep it this way, at least for now.


	7. I Solemnly Swear Im Up To No Good - 2

**(NoTeS fRoM vAL)**

**First of all, wow, I am so supremely happy! 8 followers and 3 favorites? Well then, slap my ass and call me cowgirl. You guys are freakin amazing! I wanna thank my 2 reviewers so far, and say that both your inputs have been super duper helpful. The pairing/romance part's still looming ahead, but your input so far has been really invaluable. Until I decide, just gonna keep throwing my original person in with different men (and of course that lovable asshole we all know and love, RANDALL KEITH ORTON! LEMME GET AN RKO RKO RKO! Can we tell I really, really like the guy?) and when the time is right, I'll either hold a poll, or something..**

**So far, we have 1 vote for randy x oc, and another for wade x oc.. Anybody else?**

* * *

The beginning of the second round started on a day that was pretty, sunny and really, really warm. She woke up to pounding on her door, her head still pounding from celebratory drinks out with Jade and Ivy in some hole in the wall dive bar from the night before.

"Alright, damn it, comin." she called out grumpily, jumping out of bed, sliding her bare feet into the pair of biker boots that sat near the end of it, on the floor beside the bed. Figuring it'd be her stepmother or her father coming to wish her luck or make sure she was awake, she didn't bother with the formality of pants.

But when she flung the door open and found AJ Lee standing on the other side of it she hurriedly slammed the door closed and said "God damn it, I'm sorry.. I thought it was one of the girls." which made AJ laugh and remind her "It's good, it's okay.. I mean if you do win this thing by some miracle, Kate, you're kinda gonna have to get used to changing in front of other people. Can I come in now?"

The door opened and Kate flopped onto the sofa, tearing into a bag of gummy bears, holding out the bag to AJ who took a few and then said "Hell of a breakfast."

"Breakfast of champions." Kate echoed as she asked bluntly, "Why are you here?"

"Because of all of the girls going out for this contest, I actually hope you and or that Jade girl win. I mean you seem like you're trying to prove something out there, like you're not just here to sleep with the whole roster then go on to bigger and better things." AJ said as she sat and ate the gummy bears in her hand before adding "I also came to warn you.. Eva, the red haired girl? She's going to issue a challenge to you tonight."

"She can't."

"She's going to. Open fight night is what it is. Open fight night. It's not on air so pretty much anything goes. You might want to watch your back because if Eva's going down, then most likely so will the Bellas." AJ said as she studied the girl who oddly enough didn't seem the least bit worried about it.

"So basically, if it's a house show, then we can do anything because it's not broadcast?" Kate asked as she paced, her hand in her long dark dyed hair.

"You missed a spot, by the way.. Your dye job?"

"Yeah, I kinda did that on purpose." Kate said as AJ asked "Why dye your hair?"

Kate shrugged and then said "Just needed a change. I didn't want to be lumped in with the likes of Dana and her friends. I mean I modeled and shit too, I didn't want the girls on the roster assuming the worst about me like they do about all of the other contestants, because I am not here to find a man, believe me."

AJ studied her and then nodding said "What are you here for?"

"Personally? I've wanted to do this since I was 5." Kate said, leaving out the fact that she'd actually grown up backstage, she loved the magic that was always present in the air when the show was going.

"Me too." AJ said with a smile as she stood and then said "I wasn't here. But I thought I'd warn you and those two other girls you're always hanging around with just in case. If I were the three of you, I'd make some kind of plan.. Because one on three isn't really a fair fight."

"And you kinda hate the 3 of them, huh?" Kate asked, taking a stab in the dark when she guessed it. AJ's smirk confirmed her suspicion and she laughed as she said calmly, "Thanks. None of the others woulda done this, not given how much they rallied against this contest being bought back. I won't say a word about being tipped off."

AJ nodded and slipped out the door of the hotel room leaving Kate to get ready to go to the arena where the competition was being held. When she finished getting ready, she texted her two friends and filled them in vaguely on what might go down during the house show the contest was being held during later on tonight.

At least they had 5 hours to come up with some sort of plan amongst themselves. But first though, Kate had to make it beyond round 2.

If she got eliminated it wouldn't matter what Eva and the Bella Twins did to her or her two new friends Jade and Ivy.

"Awful lot of trouble for a worthless piece of trash like me." Kate muttered as she locked up her room and walked down to the parking lot, getting into her car. The drive to the arena gave her time to think, and while thinking she realized just how far she'd come in such a short time. It felt good to finally do something for her, something she really wanted and not to have to worry about what this person or that person was going to say.

And she wasn't even hoping to win, she just woke up each day of the competitions hoping she made it one more round.

Parking in the lot she sat in her car, legs out the open window, smoking a cigarette while she listened to music and tried getting in the zone. Tonight's challenges were mostly written scripts they'd have to act out and then during the break they'd be able to watch the 'open fight night' between the superstars and divas from a special area in the crowd.

She walked into the back entrance of the arena, scanning the crowd for her two friends, wondering where Eva the red headed troll and the Bella twins were also, while trying to keep a low profile. But hands covered her eyes and she grumbled as she heard Randy say from behind her, "I got you something.. For good luck.. It was yours and you kinda left it in my car a few years ago." as he fastened a necklace around her neck while nobody was looking.

"I left it in your car, Randall, because I found out you were screwing around with my head and on me.. With half the roster. I didn't want anything to remind me of my mistake. Do you realize just how much I would've given up for you? I mean I fought with my own father, the only real parent I actually have to try and be with you. I defended you to him, begged him to back off you.. And then I lose you anyway because.. Nevermind, why isn't important. I'm just done, okay?" Kate said through gritted teeth as she found herself wondering why he'd kept the damn thing to begin with, why he hadn't given it to that other girl or one of his many other conquests afterward.

If, according to what she'd overhead him saying, bragging that night, she was nothing more than a notch in his bedpost, why the hell buy her something she knew for a fact back then, when he was just starting out really, hadn't been easy to scrape up the money for?

"Maybe I was then.. But maybe now things are different." Randy said as Kate growled and then walked away before he could really say anything further, having spotted her friends coming in.

"So.. We ready to do this?" Jade asked as Ivy nodded and Kate muttered "Cannot wait to see the look on those 3 bitches face when we not only answer their little so called challenge, but we one up them in the whole dominance thing."

"Whoa, sparky, hold your fire.. we haven't even made it past the second round yet." Ivy laughed as Jade nodded solemnly then said "What's Randy keep hanging around for?"

Kate shrugged. Again, she hated lying, but again, if she were going to be judged fairly and not just written off, hated or pushed into the spotlight without deserving it, she had to do what she had to do. For now, it was for the best if any and all of her past ties and present ones stayed in the dark.

She was doing this for herself and the experience, the memories for the fame or the instant spotlight, or anyone's approval.

For once she was doing something she really wanted to try doing, and she was going to do it her way.

"We have a problem.. Ivy's gonna have to wear a mask or something. She's allergic to the face paint.. Why the hell are we doing that anyway? And why come out to Pumped Up Kicks in dubstep when the music finally plays? We're all going for the anti diva thing.." Jade asked confused as Kate said calmly, "Because, J.. Those bitches won't be expecting us.. especially when we come out of the crowd instead of from backstage now will they?"

"No."

"Hot damn girl, you really are evil." Ivy laughed (rolling her eyes as she did so, sick of palling around with the two girls in front of her, desperate to do something to insure her win, she wanted this, damn it, it wasn't a joke to her or an 'experience') as she nudged Kate and said "Eva's lookin."

"Act normal. Just because they're already on the roster doesn't mean they get to run over everyone. That reality show is shit anyway." Kate said in a slightly louder than normal voice.

Eva glared and called out " Aww, how cute.. The models think their opinion actually matters. When you're actually one of us then we'll talk." before rolling her eyes and turning her back. Kate picked up a broom handle but Jade took it and shaking her head said firmly, "We make it through the script challenges and then we show that bitch."

"But I wanna show her now..." Kate whined as Ivy nodded and said "Me too." even as the wheels were already turning in Ivy's mind. She wasn't stupid, she knew which side would be the winning one.. And it wasn't the side she found herself on currently. She almost felt bad about what she planned to do to Jade and Kate.. Almost.

The hat came around and each girl drew a slip of paper, looked at the paper in their hands. For the first script challenge, each girl would be placed in a triangle type scenario with two male Superstars. Kate rolled her eyes as she stuck her hand into the hat, pulled out her slip of paper, showed it to the judges without even bothering to look at the thing.

"Any reason you didn't look to at least see who you got?" a nearby backstage interviewer for this contest asked as he looked at her with a raised brow. She shrugged and took the mic then said "Maybe because I could give two shits less? That good enough?" as the guy chuckled and then said "Well, ladies and gentlemen, apparently 29 likes surprises.. If you want to know who she drew, log onto the website or go to the app.. Or find out with the rest of us when the show goes live again." before walking away.

"I swear to God, we know how to use the damn app already. Stop shoving the fucking thing down our throats." Kate grumbled to herself as she paced the backstage area, her hand raking slowly through her long hair as she kicked at a garbage can, full of nervous energy at the moment.

"Whoa.. Easy." Seth laughed as he leaned against a wall, brow raised at her bizarre behavior. "Stage fright?"

"Nope.. Just pretty sure I'm never gonna sell this angle." Kate muttered as she said aloud "You're one of the names I drew?" feeling temporarily relieved.. At least she hadn't drawn Randy, or so she'd hoped. She grimaced as he shook his head no and said with a shrug, "But maybe I know one of the guys."

"Who?"

"If you really wanted to know, Kate.. You'd have looked at the paper." Seth said with a laugh as he shook his head at her then said "Relax.. It's not like any of this is real."

"I know, but.. I just... I'd rather get to the fun part."

"What's not fun about this.. And what is the fun part to you?" Seth asked, chuckling as Kate said with a shrug, "The kicking ass part. That, I can handle, I do believe. With all this pent up rage I've got in me? Yeah.. This crap? Not so much."

He shrugged and rubbed his chin in thought and then said quietly, "So far you've done pretty damn good. People are noticing you and those other two girls."

"I know, it's just.. I'm about to go out there and completely fuck it all up." Kate said as she bit her lower lip. He shook his head and waving his hands said "Either way.. You're up girl." before vanishing into the green room, door shutting tightly behind him.

"Number 29, ladies and gentlemen, Kate Green." the announcer called as the theme Kate had chosen during introductions two days prior hit. She walked out onto the ramp and held her arms up over her head, sort of a subtle nod to her father, his time in DX, without doing the crotch chop of course, because she couldn't, because tonight's round of competitions were being broadcast on the WWE Network, which while not televised to the general public, she still figured it would be frowned upon or worse, too much of a give away.

And it was of course, still a PG era.

She bit her lower lip, shuffled her biker boot clad feet against the mat, one hand on her hip and one hand in her long and wild hair, staring at the ramp, waiting on the song of the other two participants to hit, wishing like hell she'd have just looked at the damn paper when she'd drawn it, wondering why she hadn't, remembering her whole 'winging it' motto.

She was doing this for the experience so why in the hell did it matter who came down that ramp in a matter of seconds?

Unless of course, it was Randy Orton. And oddly enough, Kate realized that if it were Randy, she just wasn't sure how she'd feel or what she'd do. Because the scripting had been done loosely so as to allow for people to improvise, this was the ultimate exercise in 'on the spot', this would tell who could stay in character on camera and who couldn't.

" . . ." came over the loudspeakers and Roman Reigns strode down through the crowd. Seth, the little shit, thought it'd be funny to put all 3 of their names in. Now he was apparently about to do a scripted scene with the girl Dean Ambrose was so pissy over lately. As if he and Dean weren't tense enough with one another lately onscreen. He kind of thought she was sexy, definitely a bit of a wildcard. She'd gotten his attention to some degree when she did her whole knife at a dart board during the talent demo. Truthfully, he liked that he was going to be doing this, with her. Maybe he'd get to know her better..

"Holy motherfucking shit." Kate muttered as she heard Jade yell out "Go get that ass, Tiger." to encourage her. She groaned inwardly, kept standing where she was, not acting in any certain manner until she saw for sure who the second guy was going to be in this.

"I HEAR VOICES IN MY HEAD".. She groaned inwardly, her throat immediately closed up and for some reason or another, her hand went to the silver necklace with half moon pendant around her neck.

"Someone up there really, really, hates me." she mumbled to herself as she watched him striding down to the ring, then gazed a few moments at Roman, who stood nearby, smirking in amusement, looking at her with curiousity.

Randy shot her a wink and then her mind began to cooperate, formed a brilliant plan. She wanted closure.. She wanted a new start and a chance to put all that pain behind her?

Maybe he needed a dose of his own medicine. Maybe he needed to see how she felt that night a few years ago when she heard him telling his friends he 'didn't love her' and she was 'just another notch in his belt'.

She walked over to him slowly, no indication which way she was leaning, either way and took the mic. She rattled off the only lines given to her by memory, then let the guys do their thing. Randy smirked and said "And that's why she's gonna stay with me.. It's me and you, forever. Remember?"

"I think she'll make the best decision." Roman stated neutrally as he watched the girl intently. It didn't take a genius to figure out she was up to something. And anybody with half a functioning brain who'd been around for the past 2 days of the competitions knew that Randy either had a thing for the girl or they had a history somehow. And that Kate seemed not to like Randy popping up the way he did.

So naturally, it surprised the shit out of Roman when Kate nodded and scooted in front of Randy as she said "I think I already have, actually." as Roman went into attack mode. He'd been thrown for a loop, but nothing threw either guy for more of a loop than what Kate did when Randy started to chuckle and taunted Roman saying "C'mon, Reigns.. Spear me.. I dare ya. You won't touch the face of the WWE. You wouldn't dare bite the hand that feeds your sorry asses. If it weren't for me? You three jerkoffs would still be on NXT." as if on cue, smirking as he did it.

It happened so fast that **nobody** knew it was coming when it happened.. Nobody but Kate of course, who smirked as she grabbed his title belt, which he'd stupidly discarded when he'd stepped into the ring moments before, sold the motions of 'hitting him with it' in the back of the head, watching him fall.

She reached out for the mic and bent, picking it up.

"He might not, Orton.. But apparently I will." Kate said with a sneer as she mocked laughter, mouthed to him _'Sorry..I just went with it'_, stood and then stepped out of the ring as Randy was getting to his feet. Roman sold his usual finisher, the spear, before walking over to Kate, picking her up, just for show, smirking as he studied her before sitting her back on her feet again. "Not bad." he said casually as he walked out of the ring and back to the back again.

Even though what she'd just done wasn't even remotely real, she still felt bad about doing it. She still felt something for him, even after he'd hurt her. She'd been over it until she saw him again. She'd thought that she was over him, the guilt she felt now at even doing this whole scripted thing the way she had indicated that she clearly needed to think that over again.

Randy walked back to his seat, glaring at John who was trying not to burst into laughter as he leaned forward and said "Hell hath no fury than a woman scorned, buddy.."

"My Katey never woulda done that shit. It's this other fuck up that's made her this way and I'm gonna kill him when I find out who he is."

"His name's Adam, actually." John quipped as Randy nodded solemnly then admitted with a slight shrug, "She apologized for doing it. Said she was just going with it." as he watched her intently, shook his head and tried to stop the night he made the mistake of ending it with her when he really did love her, he just hadn't realized it, or how much, had been to scared to really fight to keep her from coming back to him and repeating over and over in his mind like a really bad movie.

The judges watching gaped at it, consulted the vague scripting and realized that what she'd just done, played two sides in less than 5 minutes was not against any of the scripting challenges rules.

And backstage, her father nearly doubled over in laughter, muttered to himself "And that's daddy's girl. There's that fight again. I knew making her sign up to do this, even if it was just for the experience of it, so she wouldn't regret not pursuing her dreams later on in life was the right call." as he sipped a bottled water thoughtfully.

"Maybe doing that just now helped her get some closure there." Stephanie muttered as Paul shrugged and said "Closure or not.. Tonight I saw my daughter coming back. Not this beaten shell of a girl she was when she came back to us. Either way, it's worth it."

"I think she still feels something for.." Stephanie started, Paul giving her a warning look, plugging his ears so he couldn't hear the rest of her statement as he said aloud "And she's older now, smarter. She knows Orton won't do anything but hurt her."

"We actually don't know he will.. I mean that last time, you had the kid pretty intimidated, Paul. That conviently timed feud with him?"

"He's not good enough for her. Hell, Steph, none of them are." Paul said as Stephanie said quietly, "One day, she's going to find that one guy.. And then you're going to have to make a decision.. I just hope you make the right one.. It could be Randy or it could be some stranger."

"It won't be Orton. It'll be Orton over my dead body. Not after last time, he hurt her that way." Paul said as Stephanie sighed and then reminded him "And my father said the same thing with us. He even used Test as a wedge. Kind of like you kept gunning for Randy when she came to you and told you she loved him, and using a storyline to do it?"

Paul grumbled and then said "Fine, fine. Maybe I shouldn't have come down so heavy on him back then. Still doesn't mean I'm gonna make it easy for him this time though." stubbornly.

For now, Stephanie gave up on trying to talk sense into her husband. Instead she laughed and said "That was really fast and really creative thinking though. She's better at pulling off improvisation than she gives herself credit for." as Paul laughed and said "Yeah, she is."

"Then again, I don't know too many girls out there who wouldn't exact their revenge on an ex, especially if they were as serious as those two were when things ended and badly." Stephanie mused as Paul winced and shaking his head said "Do not remind me. She learned that vengefulness from you."

"Oh no sir.. That little mean and stubborn streak is all daddy. Because our other girls, Murphy, Aurora and Vaughn? All just like that." Stephanie joked as they settled in to watch the rest of the show.

Backstage, Kate sat on the counter in the dressing area for the contestants, finishing off the finishing touches to the 'war paint' she was putting on for her big 'confrontation' shortly. She'd chosen to paint her face like a character from her favorite movie, the Crow.

"So.. we're really gonna do this?"

"Mhmm." Kate said as she asked "Where the hell is Ivy?"

"Don't know. She's been scarce all afternoon."

Down the hallway, Ivy met with Eva around the corner, explained the girls plan..

"And you're sure they're gonna answer the challenge?" Eva and the Bella twins asked as Ivy nodded and said calmly, "Those two stupid bitches are here for the 'experience'.. I say we give it to them."

"Who is this 'we' she's speaking of, Brie?" Eva asked, annoyed with the girl, shocked at the girls audacity, thinking they'd be letting her on their side.

"I'm here to win.. If you don't play ball, ladies, I'll have to go to Kate and Jade and tell them what you're really planning to do." Ivy said as she picked at her nails, smirked to herself.

She'd been planning this since day one of the competition. One way or another, Ivy Milner was determined to win.

Even if it meant selling two so called friends out.

"You really think so, huh?" Eva started, Nikki and Brie shushing her, winking at one another as they said "Okay, alright. Now you're gonna go back to them and act like nothing's wrong. Understood? Leave the rest to us, we'll signal you in the ring when the time comes to make your move."

"You won't regret this. I fully intend on becoming the next winner."

She turned on her heels and walked out, the three girls looked at one another and then burst into hysterical laughter as they said "Right. And pigs fly."

Down the hallway, Kate was getting a really, really weird feeling.

"Jade?"

"Yeah?"

"I've got a bad feeling, girl." Kate said as Jade looked up and asked "You too?" before going on to explain that she'd had a weird feeling about Ivy all day. Something had just been off.

"We need an exit strategy." Kate muttered as the two girls shut the door to the dressing area, locked it and shoved a chair in front of it, just to be safe.

And 10 minutes later, as they figured, Eva walked down to the ring.. And called Kate out.

Backstage, Paul spat water everywhere, waited with his thumb on his lip as he watched the screen intently. He knew his daughter and he knew about how well this was going to go over. He also knew that he'd created the concept of open fight nights for house shows, and everyone pretty much understood that **anything** went, minimal or no real repercussions, sort of like a break from the live events and cameras they faced constantly, a break from character for the talent. It'd been one thing he'd wished they'd done more of in his time as a wrestler.

Even challenging one of the contestants to a match.

"Looks like she's about to get her trial by fire." he muttered, wondering in concern if he should walk down and call the match off, tell Eva that she wasn't able to do it, as he sat waiting. Was Kate going to answer the challenge? He waited with tension, torn between being a concerned father and a little curious. He ultimately decided that if she did come out, he'd let the match stand. She'd be super pissed at him if he didn't let her do this. He knew that much, or he thought he did at least, about his oldest child.

A few seconds later, the lights went out in the front stage where the ring was and when they came back on, there was an all out brawl going on.. And from the looks of it, it was going about evenly matched for both sides.

"Can't fight my ass." Paul said as he smiled a little. Finally, shades of the old Kate were coming back and as her father, he couldn't help but be proud of her. She'd been through a lot, she was fighting back now, not just taking it lying down.

In the ring, Eva gasped as she felt hands go over her eyes and then a forearm go across her throat, heard someone whispering in her ear, "You like that one? It's called a cross arm bar, bitch.. And if I press just a little harder.. You'll be down on your knees right about... Now." as she stepped back, let Eva fall.

Jade worked on Nikki Bella and Kate set in on Brie before AJ's theme music hit, surprising both of them. AJ ran down and slid into the ring, giving a wink to Kate who raised a brow at her. With even numbers now, (because as soon as the fighting got really intense, Ivy got turned on by both sides pretty much and dropped on her back on the mat by Nikki who did an Alabama Slam to her that left her dazed and groggy, angry that both groups turned on her) the fight gained intensity, reaching the backstage area, spilling over into catering.

The camera crews rushed backstage to catch it (mostly for potential future use, maybe on an episode of Total Divas or something) and one of the 'panelists' made the remark that it looked like an episode of Divas Gone Wild backstage with anything and everything being used as a weapon.

When the fight was finally broken up, Kate growled and tried to swing as she felt herself being hoisted carelessly over broad and muscular shoulders, carted off down to the green room where someone dumped an icy cold bottled water over her head.

She looked up, the paint from her face running and smearing, making her vision a little blurry and grumbled as she saw Randy standing there, arms crossed, that easy and almost devastating smirk on his face as he shook his head and laughed at her.

"Someone's a little fireball tonight." he remarked as she said quietly, "Can't you just leave me alone? We're done."

"You say that, Kate.." Randy started as she added vehemently, "And I fuckin mean it, Orton."

"Yeah? Well what about me? What if I realize I made the worst mistake of my life? Do I get a say in this at all?" he asked, fighting back, stubbornly refusing to just let this go, let this be the end.

"You don't deserve one. I'm done with men in general actually. Nothing you or anyone else can say or do will change my mind. Fuck the entire lot of you. Except my dad, of course." Kate said as Randy snapped "Wake up, Katey. Your dad is the biggest reason I backed the fuck off. The feud.. It got too personal, I wasn't about to drag you through that shit. That other shit? I used it as a way out. I didn't want to mess things up between you and your dad, I knew what you went through before he found you. I knew he was pretty much all you had. And I wasn't gonna do what he was doing and make you choose."

"Sure, Randy.. Not what you were telling your boys in back.. Or that girl you screwed in the broom closet."

He looked at her and then paced a little, thinking, wishing he hadn't done things the way he'd done them, wishing he'd have fought for her instead of doing anythign he could to push her away. Wishing he hadn't had a moment of weakness when he thought he was going to lose her for good before he ultimately ended things with her. The other girl, he knew this now, hadn't meant anything to him. She had.

. "So I made a mistake."

"And so did I." Kate said as she looked at him and said quietly, softly, "Please.. Just leave this alone. Let it die. There's nothing left of me, Randy.. I've got nothing left to offer." before walking out, limping down to the medic to check on Jade and AJ, who'd both gotten minor injuries during the all out brawl backstage.

"You okay?" Jade asked her moments later as she sank down on the couch in the lobby of the medics office, shut her eyes. She held up a finger and then said "Just tired as all fuck. You two alright?"

"I'm good. That was fun." AJ said as Jade turned to her and said "Thanks.. For helping us and for coming to find us back here when you saw Ivy leave the private room the Bellas use to get ready."

"Not a problem. I actually like you two." AJ assessed as Kate managed a smirk and said "You're not so bad yourself, Lee."

"Thanks." AJ laughed as Kate said aloud "Told you tonight was going to be fucking amazing, didn't I, Jade?"

"That you did, Kate, that you did."

The judges reconvened after the break and then announced the person going home. Jade and Kate leaned heavily on one another, their newly self appointed 'mentor' of sorts, AJ Lee, standing nearby as the judges gave the list of girls who hadn't made the cut and were going home tonight.

The list got to the end and Jade and Kate looked at one another and then smirked, screaming and high fiving each other. Ivy glared as she stormed off angrily, she'd been one of the first let go.

"Karma really is a bitch, huh?" Jade mused as Kate said "Indeed. But we both know we're on borrowed time. I mean look at them and then look at us." with Jade studyign the other girls intently and then nodding in solemn agreement with Kate's statement.

"Indeed we are." Jade said as AJ spoke up and said "No, you two aren't. All you have to do is win the matches, win the fans votes and the rest is easy peesy. And no, they are not perfect." as Tamina walked over and said quietly, " I misjudged the two of you."

Kate nodded, warily as did Jade.

"So, we're safe for another round... Celebratory drinks in the hot tub?" Kate asked as she and Jade walked down the hallway and out of the backstage exit, into the parking garage with AJ and Tamina, talking.

The judges were now deliberating on a different matter. They had their favorites of course, and they were torn between 3 girls.. Dana, Jade and Kate.

"I propose we elect two winners. It's never been done before, and Paul did say this contest needed a desperate facelift, hence the reason we're doing all the new challenges and it lasts a week as opposed to the fluffier stuff of the past and it only lasting one day."

The other judges nodded solemnly and then said "We talk to Levesque. If he gives the go ahead, we have two winners and maybe a runner up. The Dana girl is good, she needs a lot of work, her character needs tweaking, it's too generic. The thing that concerns me about the two we seem to be back and forth between, however, is their refusal to fit the mold of the ideal girl." another judge pointed out as still another judge spoke up and pointed out, "Levesque is trying to revamp the company's image, make it riskier."

"But those two being so unpredictable, that might be a good thing or a bad thing. We all saw that brawl backstage."

"And it trended on Twitter not even an hour later. What's good on social media is what the fans want."

"But sometimes it's not best for business." Another judge protested as he shoved the picture of Dana back onto the table and said "This girl, she has everything we're actually looking for in a diva.. Except for fighting skills and an actual persona. Those can be taught."

From the doorway, Paul spoke up and said calmly, "You can pick two winners and a runner up. But that one guy is right. We are looking to go edgier. Having a few new villians just might be a big ticket thing. I mean hell.. I'll be the first to admit that when AJ came to me with her own heel turn I almost shot it down.. Glad I gave her the chance to do it her way now."

Having said his piece, he turned and walked out of the offices. He'd gotten halfway down the hall and Randy stopped him.

" This time, Levesque. I'm not backing down." he said calmly as he looked Paul dead in the eyes and walked away down the hallway.

Paul watched Randy walking away, shook his head and muttered to himself, "It's not me your gonna have to prove that to." as he walked out to the car where Stephanie was waiting on him.

Randy walked out a few minutes later and he'd started to get in his own car but he sat watching Kate for a little while laughing with the girl Jade, AJ and Tamina. He shook his head and said quietly, a firm and determined tone in his voice, "This time, Kate, I'm gonna do what I shoulda done then."

Kate rubbed the back of her neck and looked up just as Randy shut the door to his car and pulled out of the parking garage. She stared a moment and mumbled to herself "I wish I could just turn off anything I felt and still feel for him." as she got into her own car, drove herself back to the hotel, singing along to the radio, both excited and confused, not to mention nervous.

The confusion was all Randy's fault..

The excitement and nervousness was due mostly to the fact that she thought she'd be gone tonight after the stunt she and Jade pulled, playing ninja assassin on Eva and the Bellas earlier. But she'd managed to make it another night. Did she dare hope her luck held out to the end?

And what would she do if she and Jade were left to battle it out against each other? She'd gotten quite close to the other girl.

She sighed and grumbled as she parked her car.

Sometimes, things were just way too complicated.


	8. The Truth Is Revealed Pt I

**(NoTeS fRoM vAL)**

**First of all, wow, I am so supremely happy! 8 followers and 3 favorites? Well then, slap my ass and call me cowgirl. You guys are freakin amazing! I wanna thank my 2 reviewers so far, and say that both your inputs have been super duper helpful. The pairing/romance part's still looming ahead, but your input so far has been really invaluable. Until I decide, just gonna keep throwing my original person in with different men (and of course that lovable asshole we all know and love, RANDALL KEITH ORTON! LEMME GET AN RKO RKO RKO! Can we tell I really, really like the guy?) and when the time is right, I'll either hold a poll, or something..**

**So far, we have 1 vote for randy x oc, and another for wade x oc.. Anybody else?**

* * *

"Ughh, how can hot water feel so good?" Kate groaned as she shut her eyes, stretched out lazily in the hot tub with Jade and AJ and the other girl, Tamina. AJ laughed and then asked "Did you see the look on her face when the judges cut her? She deserved it." as Jade nodded and said calmly, " What did she think? Neither of us wanted to win as badly as her? Because Eva came to me with the same shit she probably used on Ivy, I just wasn't stupid enough to fall for that shit."

"Exactly.. I mean Nikki approached me in the lobby and I basically told her where to shove her offer and her fake smile." Kate nodded, all the while feeling worried. What if this contest came down to her and Jade?

She laughed at her own worries. There was no way in hell she'd make it farther than tomorrow's competition. Only a stupid optimist would dare hope that she'd make it beyond tomorrow. But it wasn't going to stop her from getting in all the experience she could, learning what she could, while here, because she knew now that this, being a professional wrestler, was exactly what she wanted to do with her life.

"You okay?" Jade asked Kate as Kate nodded and shotgunned the bottle of Jack Daniels sitting at her side on the outer ledge of the hot tub. She rubbed her mouth and said aloud "Just worried.. What if it comes down to the two of us?"

"Then we fight it out and let the chips fall where they may. Either way it goes, it's not like it'll end our friendship. Besides, the way I figure it, girls, whether it's here or some shitty little outfit.. I'm gonna be a fighter, one way or another." Jade said calmly as Kate nodded, smiled and said "Me too. I mean it took this contest for me to realize how much I actually wanted this to happen."

"So.. How'd it feel? Roman's hands on your ass?" Jade joked making Tamina cough and try not to laugh, Kate turn redder than a crawfish and AJ turn her head, looking at Kate with curiousity filled wide brown eyes.

Kate shotgunned the Jack Daniels and muttered calmly, "I plead the 5th." as she added, "Sides, I'm pretty much done with the male species as a whole."

"Why is that? I mean you've said that like 9 times since I've met you, girl?" Jade asked as Kate sighed and said quietly, "Got my heart smashed to pieces once and then I found the real prize of the male species.. I mean I thought the way that other guy ripped my heart out and ate it was something, Adam.. He was a real piece of work."

"What'd he do?" AJ and Tamina asked, looking at Kate intently. The girl hardly ever opened up about her personal life, so this was a glimpse into the side of herself that very few people knew. They were starting to become friends, or allies at the very least, so they naturally wanted to hear the details, so maybe they could help her.

"Hmm... Well, he treated me like a doll for one.. He only wanted to show me off when it was something that might benefit him.. Having a model as a wife is apparently the shit when you're a partner in a no name, crappy law firm. Then there was all the insults, all the digs on me, all the 'advice' he liked givin that I didn't want or need. He basically made me feel as if being me weren't good enough for him.. And then to add insult to injury, when I came back from a photo shoot / vacation, I found him in bed.. With his intern.. Who is maybe 5 years younger than I am, barely out of high school. Now he's dragging ass about giving me a divorce." Kate explained as she took a few large sips from the bottle, laughed a little and then said quietly, "It's not as hard saying it again as I thought it'd be."

"Wow.. And you dealt with that for how long?" AJ asked as Kate held up 5 fingers and said solemnly "5 years. And 1 miscarriage." as she bit her lower lip. Tamina looked at Kate and asked quietly, "Did he hit you or anything?"

"Nah.. Let's just say my dad is a terrifying bastard when he wants to be. He was too damn scared of what my dad might do if he laid a hand on me to try it. My dad made him piss himself in terror before." Kate admitted, laughing a little as she debated a moment... She was really sick of keeping the secret about her father, and she was tired of waiting on someone to put 2 and 2 together or worse, remember seeing her, or one of the older members of the roster accidentally spilling the beans.

"What's on your mind?" Jade asked as Kate sighed and looked around then leaned in as she said "I have to tell you guys a huge secret.. But what I say, and my reasons for keeping it quiet, when I tell you, cannot leave us. Don't be pissed, Jade."

"What? Why? Kate, why would I be angry?"

"Because, Jade.. My father actually works for the company." Kate admitted quietly as Jade scratched her head and mulled it over then asked "Why didn't you tell me?" a slight flaring of anger clouding her hazel eyes.

"Because, Jade, I didn't wanna just be let in the company when I signed up for this. I wanted to, no I needed to do this on my own.. For me. Nobody could know who my parents were." Kate said as Jade asked "Because of the guy, right?"

"Mhmm.. Because of my bastard soon to be ex husband. He had me so low I didn't think I could do anything right, I couldn't do anything anymore when we were done." Kate said as she added "Besides, I didn't want to do this the easy way."

"So, who is your father?" Tamina asked as AJ guessed "Is it Jesse or Billy? I saw you talking to them earlier in the week before one of the competitions."

"No.. But you're pretty damn close." Kate said with a laugh as she added "They're 2 of my 6 godfathers."

"Who is it?" Jade whined, tapping her foot impatiently as she admitted "I can kind of see why you'd keep it quiet. The reporters that have been here all week are relentless.. But I'm still pissed at you about keeping something, especially in the light of what Ivy did to us earlier.."

"It's Triple H.. Paul Levesque? Yeah, that's my dad." Kate said in a rush as AJ blinked and Tamina spat her wine cooler out, shocked as she said "Come again?"

"My father is Triple H.. The COO, the King of Kings. I'm not lying, I'm actually being dead serious. Now do you see why I didn't want anyone knowing? I didn't want to be hated or pushed into the spotlight, I didn't want that. I wanted to do this for me. Not because I knew that if I wanted to be on the roster, all I had to do was ask. I wanted to at least partially earn the chance. I needed to know I could actually do something, I wasn't worthless or ugly or stupid." Kate said as she leaned back, waited on the flood of questions that came.

Tamina said quietly, "Wow."

AJ laughed a little and then asked "So what was that like? Growing up with the guys and Chyna?"

Kate groaned and shook her head and then said "It was cool.. I mean sometimes they could really drive your ass up one wall and down another, but my dad.. He's amazing. He didn't have to raise me when my mom threw me away like she did, but he did. For that, he'll always be the only male on this earth I trust. The rest of them can.." Kate started but Jade interrupted "So Randy.. What's the deal with that, really? Do you know him, or is that like you said?"

"He's the one that broke my heart first, that lead to me meeting this other fucker, Adam. I mean I was so hurt, so down about the way things ended with me and Randy that I pretty much walked right into Adam's trap. Then I was too ashamed to get away before now." Kate said as Jade smirked and said "I KNEW IT! I KNEW YOU TWO HAD TO KNOW ONE ANOTHER!"

"He's not the stud everyone makes him out to be. He broke up with me after admitting he was basically using me to get to my dad. Then he screwed another girl backstage." Kate said quietly as AJ and Tamina exchanged looks and Jade gaped at Kate then said "That son of a..."

"Let's just forget I mentioned that, okay? I'm over it, it was 6 or 7 years ago. We've both changed." Kate said defensively, stretching as Jade shook her head and said in shock, "So is there anything else you're hiding?"

Kate shook her head no and then said "You guys cannot tell anyone. I mean it'll get leaked sooner or later, I saw this one reporter in the crowd today who really has it in for my dad and I know he recognized me.. So for now, it stays between us. I'm just hoping that it stays quiet until after I'm axed from the competition." as Jade looked at her and then said with a smile, "I'm not telling a soul.. But you have gotta get me an autograph.. I fucking loved that man."

"I'll tell him. Or, you could just come down to breakfast with me in a few hours, night owl, and demand an autograph yourself, huh?" Kate joked as Jade shut up, flipping her off playfully.

"We're not gonna say a word. But if that reporter did recognize you, Kate, you might wanna be ready for the fallout." AJ warned as Tamina nodded in agreement and added "And after that brawl tonight? You might have just bought yourself a whole lot more heat than you originally wanted."

"Those bitches? They can kiss my ass." Kate said with a shrug as she laughed and then taking a sip of her Jack Daniels, she said calmly, "Let them bring it on. I'm ready." as Jade high fived her and said with a laugh, "So that day in the sign ins.. You didn't name your father because?"

"Because, I wasn't sure if someone was gonna pick up on me being who I was, I didn't want to draw any attention to myself then. But I trust you 3 bitches."

"And we trust you, bitch." Jade laughed as AJ and Tamina nodded in agreement.

"So.. You never did answer me.. How did Romans hands on your ass feel?"

"Oh no you don't.. It's gonna take the whole bottle of this, girls, before I answer those kinds of questions." Kate said with a laugh as Jade held out the bottle and said with a wink, "Well drink up then. I wanna know details."

"Yeah, how about no." Kate joked back as she sipped from the bottle, thought about how it felt like a huge weight had been lifted with her admitting her 'secret.'

At least now her friends knew.

After all, she didn't expect to make it beyond tomorrow's competition.

Meanwhile, the reporter got off the phone with his boss, smirking as he said "Yeah, it was her. This will be one hell of a story. Should we run with it?"

"The boss's daughter being involved in the competitions? Yes. Run with it. We'll post it tomorrow, right before the competition." the editor of his dirt sheet told him, smiled to himself as he hung up the phone.

This competition had been under scrutiny since it's inception a few years ago.. When this news broke, the man was almost certain that all hell was going to break loose. And finally, he'd have the literal scoop of the year, no, the decade...


	9. The Truth Is Revealed Pt II Brawl

**(NoTeS fRoM vAL)**

**First of all, wow, I am so supremely happy! 8 followers and 3 favorites? Well then, slap my ass and call me cowgirl. You guys are freakin amazing! I wanna thank my 2 reviewers so far, and say that both your inputs have been super duper helpful. The pairing/romance part's still looming ahead, but your input so far has been really invaluable. Until I decide, just gonna keep throwing my original person in with different men (and of course that lovable asshole we all know and love, RANDALL KEITH ORTON! LEMME GET AN RKO RKO RKO! Can we tell I really, really like the guy?) and when the time is right, I'll either hold a poll, or something..**

**So far, we have 1 vote for randy x oc, and another for wade x oc.. Anybody else?**

* * *

And two days later, the day before the end of the contest, all hell did indeed break loose. It was a fairly normal girls night out, Kate and Jade were drinking, playing a few games of pool at the hotel bar when Eva, Nikki and Brie walked in and stood there, watching them, arms crossed.

"What do you two want?" Jade asked as Kate said casually, "Another ass beating?" before chuckling a little.

"You're not fooling anybody. This contest is a farce so daddy can push you onto the main roster and you don't have to work for anything. Makes me sick." the Bella twins chorused as Kate clenched her poolstick and then took a long pull from the bottle of Jack Daniels she held clenched in the fist of her free hand. For a few intense moments she just stared at Eva and the twins, then she burst into laughter.

She'd had a little while by now to accept that at some point or another, that dirt sheet reporter was going to post the story, and she'd be facing an epic shitstorm. The fact that Eva and the Bellas approached her first just sort of made it funnier to her.

"What's so damn funny?" Eva demanded as she grabbed for a hand full of hair and said calmly, "We're gonna show you just what we think about Daddy's little plan, princess."

Kate stomped the top of her foot and then grabbed Eva's flaming red hair, aimed her head at the edge of the pool table then said quietly, "My daddy, you stupid twat, doesn't have anything to do with this. But hey, you three idiots just go right ahead, think whatever the hell you want. I'm actually not scared of you.. any of you." while holding her head down, keeping it on the pool table's rails.

Jade groaned and palmed her face as a brawl broke out and the camera crew, filming for Total Divas of course, caught at least 5 minutes of the brawl as it progressed. "If ya can't beat 'em, hell.. Join 'em." Jade grumbled as she grabbed hold of Nikki Bella and the two of them began to fight. Fists were flying left and right and in the midst of it all, the group of brawling girls were pried apart by a few of the guys on the roster.

A wayward punch connected with Wade Barrett's arm and he grumbled, shrugged and flipped the pint sized hellion that threw the punch, Kate, over his shoulders as if she weighed nothing. "Calm down, doll, save it for the ring. Then you can rip her bloody head off." he chuckled as Kate shrieked "Fucking put me the fuck down. Now."

"Or what?" he asked in curiousity as he sat her in a chair, handed her a beer and a napkin for her bloody lip. She glared at the three girls who'd started it all and growled to herself "I'm gonna fuckin kick those 3 bitches heads in. Open Fight Night's tomorrow again, right?"

He nodded and Jade laughed then said to him "You really shouldn't have answered that. I know that look by now, Barrett. She's pissed."

"I gathered that much when she punched my arm a few moments ago." Wade chuckled as he watched Kate storming straight back to the twins and Eva. He counted down calmly from 10 to 1 and then made his way over, standing just out of the way, just in case the little hellion started the brawl all over again.

She didn't. Instead she took the mic from Nikki, who'd been doing an interview about what was going on, for publicity and their damned stupid show and she growled into it, "Tomorrow night.. Me and that yapping ass red haired harpy."

Eva looked around and then laughed as Jade spoke up and said "You're forgetting a few people, me thinks." as she and AJ and Tamina edged into view.

"Let's make that a 4 on 4 match." Jade suggested as the girls looked at each other and then at the side that Jade and Kate stood on.

"Just because you're the COO's kid, Kate.. It doesn't mean you can just waltz into the roster and make matches with the actual talent."

"Apparently you fucking red haired troll, I did." Kate said in anger as Jade echoed "And it is open fight night. Anything goes.. Or did all that hair dye eat up all those brain cells?"

Kate and Jade, followed by AJ and Tamina turned on their heels and walked away, finished with the whole thing. Kate fumed as she shotgunned the Jack Daniels she'd been drinking and glared in the girls direction, watching them ham it up for the camera, pretending to be victims in all this.

Only then did she realize the world of shit she'd bought down on not only herself, but her new friends, and possibly her father, with her actions.

"Fuck. Shit." she grumbled as she lightly pounded her head against the tabletop and looked up then said quietly, "I probably just bought more trouble down on my father than I'm worth.. And all I wanted was to see if just for once, I could do something on my own and actually not screw it up or get scared and back down."

"Don't say that." Jade said as AJ and Tamina nodded in agreement. After assuring himself the brawl was completely done, Wade said calmly, "So you fight now, doll. Not such a bloody big deal. Your father can handle things on his end."

She nodded and said firmly, "Oh I wasn't quitting. That would mean that asshole reporter wins. And I'll die before that happens."

Jade chuckled and then said "So you're okay?'

"I'm good, J."

"Good.. Now let's strategize.. because I'm willing to bet those stupid whores are rallying the troops right now." AJ pointed out as Tamina nodded in agreement and then spoke up, asked "Should we try and get more people on our side?"

"We could, I don't see it happening, I mean the story's out now, people are either gonna react with hatred because of who I am and what I'm doing, or they're not gonna get it, or they won't wanna piss off that bunny burner with the red hair and her two pygmy bitch friends." Kate said solemnly as AJ said "Besides.. We don't need anybody else. We haven't before, we won't now. If we win, great. If we lose at least we tried, huh?"

"Yeah.. But we're gonna win." Tamina insisted as Jade nodded and said "Now we get to have real fun."

"Sorry I got you guys into this shit." Kate apologized as the other three shook their heads and said "We're having fun. It's not a big deal."

"So am I. Just wish that asshole reporter had maybe waited one more day to release the story. Like I needed this shit on top of tomorrow's competition. I needed to be focusing on that, not worrying about that."

The girls sat collecting themselves and Kate texted her father to warn him what had happened. He texted back a few minutes later telling her not to worry, telling her he was already on finding out how that reporter found out the truth and doing damage control. She groaned and shook her head, bit her lip and then texted back "Don't. Just let it be."

Paul looked at his phone and then said "I'm gonna spin this so maybe it doesn't hurt you in the long run. Just trust me, kiddo. I am your dad." as he slid his phone back into the pocket of his jeans. He'd just wanted her to try this, to see her smile again.

He hadn't thought this might happen or that people might react the way they were.

But he wasn't too worried. He tended to land on his feet, as did Kate. They were survivors.

Kate took a sip of Jack and then texted back "Dad, seriously. Just leave it alone. It's not worth feeding the trolls. It came out.. We both knew it would sooner or later. Now we just gotta work on proving the ignorant people who choose to write me off wrong, right?"

He laughed and texted back "Now that sounds like my daughter. Nice to see you fighting back." as he watched his other 3 daughters playing.

Kate laughed as she read the text and texted back "Thanks. It's been too damn long.. Oh, I might or might not have gotten into an itsy bitsy brawl with some of the girls on the roster. But it's handled."

Paul read the text and shook his head, laughing, texting back "I saw it. Gave 'em the go ahead to use it in Total Divas. I think I'm getting an idea on how to handle this thing. We might be pretending to fight for a while."

Kate groaned and then texted back "We'll talk about it later. Kind of shooting pool with the girls and Barrett right now. And no, Dad, there's nothing going on there. Done with men. So don't go getting all papa bear pissed okay? Love you." as she put her phone away, got back to the pool game they'd restarted, trying to keep her mind off of the secret being out now.

But she did wonder how people in the back were going to react now, aside from the girls, she figured that they'd all (except AJ and Tamina, of course) react the same way as Eva and the Bellas did. They didn't know her, they didn't know why she did it. It wasn't their business either.

But she did still find herself wondering what kind of atmosphere she'd be walking into at competition tomorrow..

Maybe it wouldn't be as bad as she feared. All she wanted to do now was finish what she started and get on with her life. Even with this being out, she still didn't expect to win.

If she did, she fully intended to step down and make sure Jade got the win somehow. She wasn't doing this to have it handed to her.

She was doing this because she had a few things to prove.. To herself, to the people who'd hurt her and messed her up in the head and her heart so badly, and to anyone who doubted her now.. Those were her only reasons to do this.

And when it was over, she fully intended on going back to a slightly normal life. Maybe this would help her figure out what she wanted to do, maybe not.

But at least she'd know she'd tried, right?

What she didn't realize was that things weren't going to go as she'd pessimistically forseen them going.. But she didn't know that.. Yet.

This contest was really just the beginning.. Of everything.

"We just make it through tomorrow's competition and open fight night and then we'll see what happens." Kate muttered to herself as Jade nodded and added "If nothing else, for a few days, we kicked ass, took names, raised a little hell."

"Amen, girl." Kate said as AJ spoke up and said "I think you two are going to do better than you both think."

"And you're an optimist, AJ, that's why you're so adorable." Kate quipped as Tamina said "Either way, if I were you two, wouldn't just give up. NXT is good too. And you'll eventually get moved up to the main roster."

"Good point.. But let's just get through tomorrow and the announcing of the winner, yeah?" Kate asked as Jade nodded and said "For now, let's just drink and play pool, relax. Because tomorrow, ladies, we're gonna go to war."

"Whether we wanna or not." Kate said as she shotgunned her Jack and burped, making Wade chuckle and shake his head.

"What's so damn funny, Barrett?"

"Tonight.. Thought I had a good time out with the guys. This has been pretty bloody entertaining."

"We aim to please, Barrett." Kate joked as the girls made their way out of the bar and up to their rooms before any farther fighting erupted.

They all pretty much knew they needed all the rest they could get. And a damn good plan, just to be safe.


	10. Walks and Hot Tub Talks

**(NoTeS fRoM vAL)**

**First of all, wow, I am so supremely happy! 8 followers and 3 favorites? Well then, slap my ass and call me cowgirl. You guys are freakin amazing! I wanna thank my 2 reviewers so far, and say that both your inputs have been super duper helpful. The pairing/romance part's still looming ahead, but your input so far has been really invaluable. Until I decide, just gonna keep throwing my original person in with different men (and of course that lovable asshole we all know and love, RANDALL KEITH ORTON! LEMME GET AN RKO RKO RKO! Can we tell I really, really like the guy?) and when the time is right, I'll either hold a poll, or something..**

**So far, we have 1 vote for randy x oc, and another for wade x oc.. Anybody else?  
**

* * *

She grumbled as she rolled over and looked at the time on her phone's clock. She'd been trying for the better part of over 3 hours now to try and get to sleep. She was too wound up for tomorrow, too nervous, really.

"God damn it all, am I ever gonna sleep tonight?" she growled as she launched a pillow across the room and fell back into bed, grumbling as she tried to get comfortable again. Finally, she sat up and then slid out of bed, pulled on an oversized plaid shirt and slid her feet down into her boots that lie near the door where she'd kicked them off earlier.

Grabbing her key card, she opened the door, stepped out into the hallway. The good thing about this hotel was that they had an indoor garden, and it was relaxing and near the pool.

Her intentions were to maybe take a walk through the garden, and then if she still wasn't too tired, maybe hit the hot tub and let the hot water make her drowsy.

She turned the corner and came chest to chest with Randy.

"Couldn't sleep?" Randy asked as he looked down at her, concern in his eyes.

"Nope. Getting in from a booty call?" she quipped as he shook his head and said "Nope.. Getting back from that bowling alley in town.. Went with Cena. Hell of a job on Nikki's eye."

"Aww, sorry I hurt the poor thing.. Not really, but.." Kate said as she looked up at him and then said "I'm going now."

"The indoor garden, right?"

She shrugged and he turned, caught up to her and said quietly, "So you still like wandering at night."

"No, actually, my nerves are shot and I'm just anxious for tomorrow. Plus I've always sort of been nocturnal." at least halfway admitting he was right in his assumption.

"You're gonna do good." he stated calmly as she shrugged and said "Won't matter now either way. If I win I'll never know if it was me and who I am that won the contest, or who my father happens to be. Sort of debating on just not showing up."

"But you don't give up.. Or you didn't before." Randy said as she looked up at him and said quietly, "Something like that."

She turned and was about to walk away, but he caught up to her again and walked with her, mostly just being quiet, looking at her.

Finally he asked her the question he'd been wanting to for a while now, "So, how bad was it? The thing with that jerk?"

"One, it's not your concern and two, I'd rather not talk about it. I'm out." Kate said as she looked up at him and said "Sorry.. About your whole thing ending, I mean. You did some really shitty things to me, but that had to hurt."

He shrugged and said quietly, "It was kind of my fault." as they pushed open the doors to the indoor garden. Kate looked around and said quietly, "I always loved it when hotels had these."

"I know." he admitted as he saw her rubbing her arms, put his hands over her upper arms, rubbing slowly. "Better?"

She stepped away and then said "Stop, okay?" as he looked at her then said quietly, "I'm not gonna."

"You really should."

They sat down on a bench and Kate hugged her knees up to her chin and said casually, "Stars are brighter tonight." as she looked up at the night sky through the skylight in the ceiling. He nodded and said "Remember all the times we used to sit out in the parking lot, look at them?"

She nodded and then said "But bringing up the good stuff isn't gonna change what happened." as she stretched and said "I'm just done now, really. I'm empty, I've got nothing left."

"You do, you just have to get past this."

She shrugged and said "Gonna go soak in the hot tub now, Orton. Go up to your room and sleep."

"Like you, I'm nocturnal.. hard to sleep when I have too much crap on my brain." Randy said as he shrugged and then walked out of the indoor garden area.

He'd really started to realize just how much he did love her then and how much he still loved her now. But the trick was going to be getting her to be okay again, getting close to her again.

And keeping a few of the other bastards on the roster with their eyes on her away.

Kate sank down into the steamy hot water and let out a long sigh, leaned her head back against the edging of the hot tub and shut her eyes.

Male laughter had her peeking through one eye and Roman sat there, looking at her with a raised brow. "You alright?"

She gave him a thumbs up and said "Just trying to make myself sleepy."

"Night owl, huh?" he asked as she nodded and said "Of the worst kind. Meaning that I hardly ever wanna sleep at night and then I want to sleep all day long."

He chuckled and then said "So.. I saw the article."

"Was anybody reading any god damn thing else?" she asked in amusement as he laughed and said "I think I get why you did it the way you did."

"Yeah, it's just too bad that nobody else seems to." Kate muttered as he laughed and said "To hell with the rest of them."

She nodded and then said with a smirk, "Basically, yes. I mean they're not gonna like me, either way, really doesn't matter what I do. " as she turned to look at him and then asked with a raised brow, "Any reason you're not asleep?"

"Hot water takes tension out of muscles." Roman stated as he looked at her and then said with a shrug, "Saw you come in here. Thought I'd talk to you or something. There's really nothing else to do here,sadly.. I mean Ambrose and Rollins are still at the bar, god knows when they'll be back."

"And I've already been to the bar tonight. The hotel bar's kinda nice. Boring, but nice." Kate chuckled as Roman shook his head and said "Not according to Barrett.. Said you got into a brawl earlier?"

She laughed and nodding said "With that mouthy harpy Eva and her two idiot friends. Not much of a brawl, actually."

He nodded and she asked "Any reason you're not out with Ambrose and Rollins?"

"Because, every now and then those two annoy the living shit out of me and I need a break from the insanity and the chaos they tend to get into." Roman said as he looked at her and then asked "So.. What was it like growing up backstage?"

"No different than it would've been anywhere else, I guess.. I mean my dad, when he met Steph, he started sending me back with her, then with my half sisters and her during school.. Only really got to come out on holidays and during the summer." Kate mused as she stretched and then said "What about you? I mean the Rock's your cousin.. What's that like?"

"Actually, one of your friends is too."

"And I asked Tam the same question.. Now I'm askin you? I mean I know what it was like being around the guy for me.."

"He's Dwayne. Loud, stubborn, occasionally perverted." Roman said as Kate laughed and then said "That he is." as she leaned back, looked up at him.

"So.. What'd you think of working with me when you drew my name for the scripting challenge?" he asked casually as he looked at her intently. She shrugged and said with a smirk, "It was fun. I mean I hated that I did that to Randall, but yeah.. Not like he didn't have payback coming."

"Ouch, so you two have a history?" Roman asked as she laughed and said "If you wanna call it that then yeah. I spend 90 percent of my time now ducking his advances.. He doesn't get it, nobody does.. I mean I know my dad and Steph say they do.. But I sugarcoated a lot of what happened to me while I was away for 5 years.. Randy just thinks he's god's gift and he can fix anything broken.. Sometimes you just can't." while twisting a damp strand of hair around her fingertip, looking at Roman intently.

"Maybe you can." Roman said as she shook her head and then said "Doubt it. And even if I could.. Not so sure I wanna dive right back in. I'm sort of just done with it all, being pranced around and displayed like a doll, then told nothing I'll ever do or say, or anything about me is actually good enough. I heard it so much I kinda started believing it and that's one reason I did this.. I wanted to prove myself wrong.."

She laughed sheepishly and shrugged then said "It's stupid, yeah.. But I'm actually just starting to get my own life back, feel comfortable in my own skin again.. I know people just expect me to throw myself back out there, but I just can't."

He shook his head and said quietly, "It makes sense. And I don't blame you. And randy, all the others who think you should just automatically be fine again are wrong." as he looked at her and said "It takes time. I mean I don't know what you went through, but I'm imagining it's pretty bad from the way you look when you talk about it."

"It wasn't anything I didn't get myself into." Kate asserted as she sighed and then said "Thanks.. For listening and not just laughing or fleeing for the nearest exit. I think I needed to get it all out again, for someone who wasn't biased."

Roman chuckled and then said "I never said I wasn't biased." as he looked at her and then said "I thought you looked familiar that day.. I think I might have met you a few times when we were kids."

She looked at him a little while and then said "Actually, I think you're right. Your cousin.. He took you to the fair once with me and Dad, Shawn and his kids.. Right?"

"Yeah.. And you freaked out on the ferris wheel, because it was heights." Roman said with a shrug as she growled and said "That.. Goes to the grave."

"Why?"

"I got a rep to protect, Reigns." Kate said as he said with a shrug "Ambrose is afraid of spiders. Not like being afraid of something is going to end you." which made her laugh and then say "Spiders? But they're... He could just smoosh 'em.."

"And he does.. tends to overkill them, actually."

"thanks.. I needed a laugh.. See you around, Reigns."

"Good luck tomorrow. And for the record, it'll be amusing watching you guys go against the Bellas and Eva." Roman said as he stood and walked out of the area the hot tub was in. She followed suit, going into her own hotel room, falling itno bed, tired.


	11. More Drama In More Ways Than One I

**(NoTeS fRoM vAL)**

**First of all, wow, I am so supremely happy! 8 followers and 3 favorites? Well then, slap my ass and call me cowgirl. You guys are freakin amazing! I wanna thank my reviewers so far, and say that both your inputs have been super duper helpful. The pairing/romance part's still looming ahead, but your input so far has been really invaluable. Until I decide, just gonna keep throwing my original person in with different men (and of course that lovable asshole we all know and love, RANDALL KEITH ORTON! LEMME GET AN RKO RKO RKO! Can we tell I really, really like the guy?) and when the time is right, I'll either hold a poll, or something..**

**So far, we have 2 votes for randy x oc, and another for wade x oc, and another vote for Drew McIntyre.. Anybody else? Not Ambrose though, I've got a thing going for him already.  
**

* * *

She walked into the stadium with her head held high and didn't meet anyone's gaze when she walked past them. She could tell that nearly all of the divas had been just discussing her whole situation and probably speculating some wild and blown out of proportion and totally untrue thing. She rolled her eyes in annoyance as she set sights on the locker she'd been using for the week and found not only her 'lucky' Motorhead shirt, but everything else in it soaking wet and ripped. She lifted the shirt and turned to address the girls standing behind her with an amused and cold smirk as she said calmly, "Fucking seriously? This.. Wow, I thought we were all mature and shit. Since we're not.." while walking towards Eva Marie with a menacing gleam in her eyes. Eva Marie backed up shaking her head as she said "I didn't.."

"No you little red haired ass clone clown, but you fucking know who did, don't you?" she said through gritted teeth as she asked again "Answer me, bitch. You know exactly who did this to my stuff and Jade's stuff. And you're gonna be an example."

"I think not." Brie and Nikki spoke up from behind her as Kate stiffened her shoulders and mockingly smiled at them as she said "Hi girls.. You're just in time."

"For what?" they asked, studying her and then one another, the way she was holding Eva by the head of the hair, the hair clutched and balled tightly around Kate's fist. "What were you going to do? Run and tell daddy that you're being picked on?"

"Wrong, bitches. Dead wrong.. See, my dad.. He taught me one thing about bullies..." Kate said with a smirk as she started to walk backwards towards a bathroom stall that was open, practically dragging Eva in the process while continuing, "He taught me not to bow down to 'em. Like, ever. To show them who the real bitch is. And ladies? You're lookin at her."

They started to laugh and started to walk towards her. She smirked as she looked over her shoulder and then said casually, "Toilet's backed up.. If either of you bitches really care about Eva here? You won't come any closer.. I've heard it takes a really, really long process to get the smell of crap out of your hair and your skin.. Almost like a skunk spraying ya, actually." as she backed a little further into the stall, gripping and yanking Eva's hair tighter.

The twins looked at each other and then at Eva who was pleading with her eyes and trying to squirm free only to have her hair yanked every single time she tried to get free and almost got free. But then it all went dark for Kate and she slumped forward.

When she came to, she was laying in the middle of the locker room, tied to the bench. Brie smirked as Nikki laughed and leaned down then said "I didn't like you from the beginning, actually.. And when I found out that daddy practically snuck you in, right under our noses? I really, really hated you. See, my girls and me have a good setup here. A damn good setup. We're the top divas. And there is no way in hell that Daddy Trips is going to parade his freakshow skank baby girl around like she's the best thing on planet Earth."

Kate spat at them and fought against the makeshift restraints as she growled. She managed to get a wrist free and smirked to herself as Nikki and Brie were talking to Eva and one of the other divas quietly, non suspecting.

She stood and lunged and landed on top of Brie Bella, right in the middle of the hallway. Right at the feet of Kane who shook his head, hauled them both up off of the floor and proceeded to give them a lecture about proper behavior backstage for the benefit of the watching cameras. Kate grumbled and as soon as Kane was gone down the hallway, she said calmly, "Brie?"

"What, loser?"

"I'm gonna get you, bitch.. You and your horse humping twin too." Kate spat as she stormed off, went to find AJ, Tamina and Jade. She found them in the catering area, and they all eyed her with a raised brow as she came in and flopped down in the chair at the table. "Are you alright?"

"Just a little welcome party, that's all. Fuck those bitches. We'll get them tonight.. What's up with you 3 though?" she asked as Tamina shoved a paper in front of her that had pictures of not only herself with Randy, but also ones taken during the week of the competition where she was talking to Roman or Wade, even the one conversation she had with Rollins was being called into question.

"Seriously? Jesus freaking Christ, don't these buzzards have anything better to do?" Kate whined as Jade said quietly, "Apparently not. They're trying to say that you're just here to marry a handpicked by daddy fighter.. They even put the marriage you walked out of in the article. Girl, this just got seriously deep shit city."

"Yeah, no shit. As if I needed any more heat when that one scum sucker released the story about who my dad really was.. Now I'm gonna look like the backstage bike. That's just great, that's gonna help me so much. What do I do?"

"Just ignore it, for now." AJ said as Tamina nodded and then said with a smirk, "And kick ass during the competition rounds tonight.. And during our little invasion. If that doesn't remind them how serious you really are, girl, I've got no idea what will."

"Oh.. Trust me, I'm serious. This is my serious face. I am in full blown queen bitch mode now. But I think I know a way to sort of mock these stupid bastards..." she said with a mocked evil laugh. AJ and Tamina groaned and Jade shook her head then said "Oh no.. That look ain't good. That look got us thrown out of a bar last week, Kate."

"And it was a damn good time, was it not?" she asked as she eyed the group of girls who'd just walked in, laughing it up. She had a feeling she knew exactly how the reporters were getting the photos of her talking to any male. And tonight? Those guilty parties were going to pay.

Meanwhile, Randy sat in the locker room looking at the paper he'd just been handed, grumbling as he swore aloud. He looked up and around in anger then said aloud "Just so you fucks know.. I'm gonna get her back."

He stood and walked out, down the hallway. He knocked on Triple H's door just as the COO was walking out and holding up the paper he said calmly, "If I were you, LEvesque, I'd start putting a spin on this now. Or it's gonna get way out of hand. You know how the others back here are and you know what'll happen to Kate. I'm coming to you because I actually do love her. And I know she'll be stubborn and try to take them all on."

Paul studied him and then said quietly, calmly, "And what? You think she can't handle it? She's got backup, trust me. I'm working on spinning why she entered the contest the way she did. As far as the talking to you jerks? Personally, I really wish she wouldn't look at any of you. But she's an adult and I can't control who she talks to. But I'm gonna make it known I'm not too thrilled about it."

Randy grumbled as he said calmly "Neither am I?"

"Because why, Orton? Are you afraid she might just move on.. And it might not be with you?" Paul asked with an amused smirk as he added seconds later, "Because you know you messed up. And you know I hate you. And that I don't want you anywhere near her."

Randy glared before storming off. So much for trying again to get her father to wake up and see that he loved Kate and he wasn't going anywhere. He was going to have to do something desperate if it looked like whatever she might pull out there tonight might backfire. He might just have to channel the Viper.

The thought had him giddy with excitement.


	12. More Drama In More Ways Than One II

**(NoTeS fRoM vAL)**

**First of all, wow, I am so supremely happy! 8 followers and 3 favorites? Well then, slap my ass and call me cowgirl. You guys are freakin amazing! I wanna thank my reviewers so far, and say that both your inputs have been super duper helpful. The pairing/romance part's still looming ahead, but your input so far has been really invaluable. Until I decide, just gonna keep throwing my original person in with different men (and of course that lovable asshole we all know and love, RANDALL KEITH ORTON! LEMME GET AN RKO RKO RKO! Can we tell I really, really like the guy?) and when the time is right, I'll either hold a poll, or something..**

**So far, we have 2 votes for randy x oc, and another for wade x oc, and another vote for Drew McIntyre.. Anybody else? Not Ambrose though, I've got a thing going for him already.  
**

* * *

"And the winner is.." the judges said as Kate, Jade and the remaining contestants stood waiting with fingers crossed. She looked at the panel of judges and then at Jade who shrugged and then squeezed her hand and whispered "Hey, if we don't make it.. It's not the end. We can go work for some indy circuit company and then maybe we'll get signed to NXT. Just like we planned, right?"

"Yeah. Just like we planned." Kate whispered back as the leading judge spoke up and said "This year, we've chosen 3 winners, actually. 2 first place and one runner up. The way this will work is the runner up will enter NXT and train. The two winners will begin to train with a mentor and enter the main roster. And those winners are... Kate Green, Jade Smirnova and Dana Delaney. The overall winners are Kate Green and Jade Smirnova. Dana, you are our runner up. Do any of you have any questions?" as Kate and Jade gaped at one another, obviously shocked before the shock wore off and the excitement kicked in to some degree.

"We actually fuckin did it."

"Only because your daddy had a hand in it, Kate." Dana said as she glared and then said "But it's okay.. I'll get to the main roster.. Sooner than you think, actually. You're not the only one with friends in high places, Kate." before turning on her heels, shoving a mic held by a reporter out of her face as she did so. Kate grumbled. If Dana's statement was anything to go by, she had the feeling that when she and Jade walked to the back to be introduced to their costars by Vickie Guerrero, the reception was going to be anything but pleasant.

"I've got a feeling, J."

"So do I, K." Jade answered as she took a few deep breaths and said "So what that came out? Doesn't mean you're any less deserving than those other bitches. You actually have more to prove this way. Think of it like that." while Kate nodded and said quietly, "Yeah, I know. I kinda like that. Gives me a goal now." as the two of them followed Vickie back to the Divas locker room.

"And there she is now, little princess." Natalya said as Kate glared and raked her hands through her hair, studied the girls intently. Her eyes met with Nikki and Brie's eyes and she snickered as she said calmly, "Say whatever the fuck you idiots want. I'm not going anywhere. All the asskickings, the pranks, the comments? They're only gonna make me work that much harder to grind your asses in the mat when we're in the ring together. I'm not here to prance around and look pretty like some of you. I'm only here because I wanna fight. I like to fight and I like violence. This is cheaper than therapy, actually."

Jade snickered as Eva spoke up and said "Just so you know.. You will never be the top diva back here.. Like, ever."

Kate looked at her and then said with a menacing grin, "Does it look like that bothers me? I'm not here to be on some god damn reality show. I'm not here to make friends, I'm not a nice girl. I have the few friends I need. The rest of you are just obstacles in my way. Oh and Nattie? If i were you, girl, I really wouldn't cast judgement.. I mean you do brag about being a legacy, do you not? So last time I checked? You're being a fuckin hypocrite in even opening your mouth to judge me."

Natalya started forward but Kate stepped up and said calmly, "You might be bigger, Nat.. But I'm one hell of a lot meaner. And you might not wanna piss me off today." before Vickie stepped between them and said with a smirk, "Let's welcome you two to the roster properly.. Since you two obviously like that little pain in my ass AJ Lee, you'll be teaming with her against everybody else on the roster. Tonight. Oh and ladies? No disqualifications. That means anything goes." before walking out, smug and content.

By the end of the show, the two newest Divas would be broken and quit and she wouldn't have to worry about AJ having any friends. She'd almost gotten between AJ and Tamina now, pushing the Samoan woman to go after the title, putting the friends at odds in a way. It hadn't affected either of them off screen, but she had confidence that given time, it would.

"Awww... Vickie does love me.." Kate said with gritted teeth as she and Jade eyed the rest of the locker room, looking at Tamina who shook her head and mouthed "We'll figure something out."

"It's good." Kate mouthed back as she added "If we show that pea brained woman that we don't care if we're friends or not, that when we want something, we go for it.."

Tamina nodded as she started to prepare for the match. The locker room was icy, it almost felt like Kate were standing on the coldest point of Antartica. The thought made her smirk a little, actually.

Let them do their worst. She'd been through hell before and come out the other side. Whatever they did to her couldn't possibly be worse than some of the things she'd had done to her and done to others in the past and frankly, none of them and their pettiness concerned her. She was here to fight, she was here to live out her dream and she wasn't going to let anyone, not them, not the shitty dirt sheet tabloids that kept trying to run her name and her father's name into the dirt, not an over attentive ex who she still sort of felt things towards..

Nothing and noone was going to stop her. She was finally doing something strictly for herself and it felt damn good.


	13. And We're Like, Trending Now

**(NoTeS fRoM vAL)**

**First of all, wow, I am so supremely happy! 8 followers and 3 favorites? Well then, slap my ass and call me cowgirl. You guys are freakin amazing! I wanna thank my reviewers so far, and say that both your inputs have been super duper helpful. The pairing/romance part's still looming ahead, but your input so far has been really invaluable. Until I decide, just gonna keep throwing my original person in with different men (and of course that lovable asshole we all know and love, RANDALL KEITH ORTON! LEMME GET AN RKO RKO RKO! Can we tell I really, really like the guy?) and when the time is right, I'll either hold a poll, or something..**

**So far, we have 2 votes for randy x oc, and another for wade x oc, and another vote for Drew McIntyre.. Anybody else? Not Ambrose though, I've got a thing going for him already.  
**

* * *

"Aww, they're scared of us, lookie." Brie chided into the mic as Nikki laughed and said "Where are you, girls? We only wanna talk, really." with Eva stepping forward, still soaked from earlier in the night when Kate soaked her in something during her match, still very furious as she said through gritted teeth, "Right.. You two might just want to talk, I however, do not. I want Kate and I want her out here, front and center, right now."

The theme song she'd chosen, Riot by Three Days Grace, started to play and nothing.. For almost 3 solid minutes, the music and Kate's new entrance video played on the Tron and still, nothing. Or at least it looked like nothing, until the lights darkened so much that nothing inside the ring could clearly be seen. When the lights came back on, however, it was a Diva free for all, an all out hardcore brawl going on in the middle of the ring. In the back, Paul grumbled and then started to laugh as he got into the match, said to Stephanie, "Told ya.. She wanted to do this, she was just too afraid of failin before."

"Should we go down now?"

"Not yet. Let's let the girls have their fun, then we'll do what we discussed earlier with Kate." as he ate a bag of chips, finishing them off, throwing the bag at the trashcan.

Out front, the girls continued their brawl, the referees and a few security guards, some other personnel decided to try and break it up. One guard got his hand on Kate who hissed and fought free, running to take Brie down by using a Russian Leg Sweep from behind. When she'd done that, she flipped Brie over, sat on her, started punching her in the face.

Until a chair shot to the head sent her slumping forward and Eva laughed, mocked skipping around Kate who sat up and rubbed her eyes, trying to get her bearings. When she did get her bearings, her eyes skimmed the area around the ring. Growing up backstage during the height of the Attitude Era had given her lots of tips and one of them was that on any given night, you could find anything from gardening tools to a well used kendo stick beneath the ring apron.

She oughta know, because she used the stick once, when she'd been a little girl, on Vince, when Vince got after her father, before her father married Stephanie.

She felt around blindly as blood from a 'cut' above her brow dripped down into her eye, making it sort of challenging for her to see. But when she came up with the kendo sticks, she also came up with a pair of long forgotten handcuffs.

AJ groaned as she saw the look in her friend's eye, found Eva handcuffed to the ring post while being whacked with a kendo stick by a furious Kate Levesque, who was swearing probably faster than the censors could sensor out her swearing. Kate kept beating at Eva until the kendo stick broke and then Tamina came over, getting her away, right as Triple H's theme song hit.

"Uh oh.. Here comes daddy." Brie said as Kate sent a bicycle kick smashing to her nose, Brie caught her foot and twisted and her father cleared his throat, the same way he had when she'd been a kid and done bad. "Katherine?"

She grumbled and looked up, angry. "Yes, Father?" she asked on cue as AJ and Tamina, Jade all crossed their arms. Everyone out here right now, on their side at least (and Natalya, from the other side), knew what they were doing, knew that Paul had a genius idea for a new feud for the girls, who were apparently all getting bored and content, catty as of late.

It had been agreed upon that for now, Kate and the others would continue their anti diva status, since Kate point blank told her father that she couldn't be a good girl if she tried, not that she saw now how much fun it actually was, being a heel.

She hadn't thought it'd be as much fun as it was when she started this whole process in her new 'career'.. Her father looked at the four of them and said "Now Kate, honey.. What did daddy tell you about attacking the other girls?"

Kate glared and said quietly, "You said that I couldn't touch them. That it was best for business, sir, if I left them alone, let them keep being pretty." as she cut her eyes at the girls on the other side of the ring, then back at her father, smirked as she said "But you know what? I don't really give a flying fuck about what's good for business, Dad."

Paul smirked as he heard her going off the collar with her lines. She was good at this, he'd forgotten just how much she loved doing things like this, how much of a ham she actually could be, when she wasn't hurting and she was feeling more like herself like now, apparently. He'd left her the option to either go with the good girls tonight, or stick this gimmick out.

Suddenly, he was glad he'd given her a choice, because standing here now, he suddenly realized that she was doing something major. He'd sort of thought she'd wind up going good, buckling under the pressure and scrutiny she'd been under as of late. Instead, she was facing it head on, and laughing about it.

"Well, just because you're my kid, that don't mean I'm gonna just let you and your little friends come in here, rough up the other girls." Paul said as he paced, rubbed his chin in thought before looking at her and then saying with a smirk, " Since you girls want to try me tonight, and I'm in a laughing mood.. And it is your first night on the roster.. How about a match?"

Kate glared a moment, for the camera and then said warily, "Fine, pops. But I want a cage."

"We don't do that anymore, sweetie."

"Don't sweetie me you fucking tyrant. I want a fucking cage. We're just as good as the men on this roster, if they can have one, by damn, so can we. And do not give me that look, sir." Kate said as she crossed her arms, looked at the other girls in the ring. AJ and Tamina laughed and AJ spoke up then said "What? Afraid we'll really mess them up inside a steel cage?"

"No, actually. Kate, you're not getting a cage match. Just like I told ya ya weren't signing up for this damn competition in the first place."

"Try me, sir." Kate said firmly as she stared down her father, both barely hiding grins. It was fun to work with her dad. In a thousand years, she'd never dreamt she'd get to actually work with her father, on screen. She'd talked about it nonstop as a kid, but she'd sort of forced herself to grow out of her dreams as an older girl, then as an adult, her dreams were virtually forgotten until her life fell all to pieces not so long ago.

The other girls looked at each other, then at Kate, then the whispering began. By now, Natalya knew the truth about how Kate came to try out and why, and they'd sort of picked up their old friendship from when they'd both been kids.. Beyond her, nobody expected this tonight, or what would come in a matter of weeks, when Natalya, Ms. Nice Girl, well.. When she took a heel turn.

Kate had promised her after all, that she was going to help her out too, that unlike the other rookies Nat worked with, Kate wasn't going to forget about her or AJ or Tamina. They had all helped her in different ways, some in her past, others in her present, and she owed them all now. And Kate wasn't the kind of girl who liked any red on her ledger.

"You're really going to make me do this, huh?" Paul asked as Kate smirked and nodded then said quietly, "Apparently, daddy, yes.. Yes I am. I told you, one way or another, no matter what you want, I'm gonna do this my way."

"Your way, huh? Why not the easy way? The way I offered you?" Paul asked as Kate laughed and then cut her eyes to the other girls on the other side of the ring and asked "You mean selling out? No thanks."

She threw down the mic and walked up the ramp with AJ,Tamina and Jade, who all high fived each other once they were hidden away safely in the green room. AJ clapped as she held out her phone and said with a laugh "Daddy Issues is trending.. So is Black Widow Society. That does sound like a good name for ourselves..."

"It does." Jade said as Tamina nodded and Kate said with a shrug, "Works for me." while trying to catch her breath, get out of the shock she felt at having done her first major appearance in a show. It felt amazing.


	14. Talking To Dad, Villians Night Out I

**(NoTeS fRoM vAL)**

**First of all, wow, I am so supremely happy! 8 followers and 3 favorites? Well then, slap my ass and call me cowgirl. You guys are freakin amazing! I wanna thank my reviewers so far, and say that both your inputs have been super duper helpful. The pairing/romance part's still looming ahead, but your input so far has been really invaluable. Until I decide, just gonna keep throwing my original person in with different men (and of course that lovable asshole we all know and love, RANDALL KEITH ORTON! LEMME GET AN RKO RKO RKO! Can we tell I really, really like the guy?) and when the time is right, I'll either hold a poll, or something..**

**So far, we have 2 votes for randy x oc, and another for wade x oc, and another vote for Drew McIntyre.. Anybody else? Not Ambrose though, I've got a thing going for him already.  
**

* * *

She stood in the doorway of her father's backstage 'office' waiting on him to finish a phone call, smiling as she stepped in when he nodded and smiled at her, shutting the door behind her. "Okay, so I have an idea, Dad..."

"I'm not gonna like this, am I?" Paul asked as Kate said "Actually, me and the other girls came up with it.. Because unlike the twins and Eva, we wanna include everybody.. How about we make this a legit feud? I mean the girls and I pretty much all really hate one another in real life so it'd be like..."

"Like the thing with me and Orton after he hurt ya, huh?" Paul asked as Kate nodded and then said "You were right about him, though and I'm not in here to discuss that. I'm in here to discuss maybe including Aksana, Alicia, the other girls not on that crappy reality show on our side somehow.. If I can come up with a way to throw them in, and they agree to it, can I?"

Paul waved his hands and said "Your mom and Vickie are over the Diva roster, not me. Not my place. But I think it'd be an interesting take, it'd give this Authority thing a whole new bend, especially considering my own kid's not on my side, huh?" as he chuckled and said reassuringly, "You did great. It's not what I thought you'd choose after we all talked, but I like it."

"I told you, daddy.. If we worked together on the same side, it'd be boring.. They're always seeing the family stick together, remember? This is you and Mom's time to do what you want with the company. Grandpa Vince, for the record said I was a genius when I told him what I thought I was gonna do." Kate laughed as she looked at him and said quietly, "Thanks dad.. For letting me do this, supporting me and not telling me I was stupid or childish or I'd never make it."

"Like that bastard you were married to?" Paul asked as she nodded again, dropped her eyes and said "I still can't believe I lived under his thumb, in fear, for 5 years. I'm so damn ashamed at it, really."she admitted as he sighed and said "You thought he loved you. It's not a hard mistake to make, kid.. Especially given what you grew up hearing from your mom before I finally got you out of there."

"I know, it's just.. You always raised me not to do that stuff, to be smarter." Kate admitted as Paul laughed and said "People make mistakes, kid.. Oh.. I talked to Nat.. She wants to do it, said maybe she'd be better as a heel."

"Did she? Good. I didn't want her knowing I sort of orchestrated that idea, you know how stubborn she is." as Paul nodded and said "I'm glad you're here. On the road with me. It's kinda like old times, huh?"

"Only we're in a feud with one another onscreen." Kate laughed as Paul said "And Mark said he wasn't surprised, really as much as we butted heads when ya got older." which made Kate laugh and ask "Hey.. I wasn't that bad, was I?"

"Actually, no." Paul said as he looked at her, hugged her and then said "I tried to protect you from everything, kid.. Guess I kinda had a hand in you doing this, the whole choosing the bastard thing." quietly.

"Dad, no. That was on me.. I was stupider then, I was still hurt about Randy, not dealing with it. Instead of dealing with it, I just fell in with the first guy who came along." Kate said as Paul sighed and said "If I hadn't made ya choose."

"You didn't, remember? He ditched me. It's his loss." Kate said as Paul nodded, letting her think that for now, noting what he heard Randy telling a few of the guys at a bar earlier. Not that the guy was winning him over, he still hated him with every bone in his body, but Randy had really meant it, he could just tell somehow.

"I'm gonna get down to the parking garage. It's girls night, we're gonna go try and get Tamina a tattoo.." Kate said as Paul groaned and said "And you have two. You need no more. And no all night drinking.. All of you girls have photo ops in the morning."

Kate mocked a salute and hurried out the door and down the hallway, meeting up with her friends in the garage. Roman was standing and talking to Tamina and AJ when she walked over. He smiled at her and then asked "So.. How do you like it so fa r?"

"Love it, actually." Kate said as Roman laughed and said "You're entirely too good at being one of the bad girls." as she shrugged and winked then asked "So... You and the other two wanna come with? I mean we're all just gonna go for drinks and stuff.. maybe get Tam here a tattoo."

"We are not getting Tam a tattoo." Tamina said firmly as AJ pouted and said "Just one itty bitty one? Even I have one, come onnnnnn."

"Nope, not gonna happen. Jade doesn't have a tat."

Kate turned to Jade who said "And Jade isn't getting one, either. She's deathly afraid of motherfucking needles." Jade laughed as she asked "What about you, Kate.."

"Oh no no, senorita.. I have 2."

"And? You wanna ink all of us up.. Interesting.. Me thinks the lady wants her own ink but she's too chicken." AJ said as she skipped back, bawking like a chicken mockingly. Kate laughed and then said "Fine.. Maybe I do want one. I'm gonna get my divorce date tattooed on my neck. Since I don't wanna remember ever marrying that bastard, and I don't have a title to brag about."

"Ooh.. And I can get the date I tried out for Diva Search." Jade said as they high fived, making Roman laugh and shake his head. Tamina spoke up and said "Fine. A tiny one."

"Of?"

"I don't know, it's just going to be tiny, okay?" Tamina asserted as AJ pouted and said "Tiny? Really, Tamina.. Your fear of needles baffles me, woman."

"Me too."

Roman laughed as he said "We'll meet you guys at the bar, if douchebags numero uno and deuce actually want to stop arguing with each other and come out." before walking off, stopping to laugh when Kate yelled out "Tell Ambrose and Rollins to just get a damn room already."

"I'll do that. And make sure they know you said it." Roman teased as Wade walked past, stopped to talk to them a few minutes. "Hey Wade.. It's baddies hang night.. Wanna come with?" Kate asked as Wade smirked and nodded then said with a wink, "I'll be there, doll. Someone's gotta keep ya out of a brawl or the fountain in the lobby of the mall, yeah?"

"You know it." Kate joked as the group set off to get ready to go out and just chill for a night. Kate watched Roman and Wade walking away, biting her lower lip. Now she had 3 times the hard decision, because not only did she feel something for Randy, her ex, but she also felt something for Roman and Wade. She shoved the thoughts out of her mind for the moment.

She'd been burnt by love before, didn't want it happening again, so the best thing to do was just forget it now, while she was just in the early phases of things with them all.


End file.
